The Donnie Creek wildfire has become one of the largest fires of the past century in British Columbia, according to the province’s fire department.
The fire, which is burning north of Fort St. John in northeastern British Columbia, is estimated to be over 2,400 square kilometers, the size of more than 330 football fields.
Data from the BC Wildfire Service shows it is the second largest in the province’s history, after the 2017 Plateau fire, which then covered 5,210 square kilometres.
However, it exceeds that of Elephant Hill which burned more than 1,900 square kilometers of forests, grasslands and properties in the summer of 2017.
According to Julia Caranci, information officer with the BC Wildfire Service, the size and impact of fires are two different topics.
The Donnie Creek Fire has grown significantly due to two planned ignitions last week that burned a 55-kilometer stretch along its southern flank in an effort to control the blaze and create “containment lines.”
“Some of this growth is certainly due to the growth of the fire, but a significant part of the recent increase in the number of hectares is due to these ignitions,” said Mr.me Caranci in an interview on Monday.
“When a fire burns [cette] intensity, at some point it is too dangerous to put the firefighters in a position where they attack it directly. So now is the time […] where we use fire to fight fire. »
She noted that it is the result of “a number of small forest fires that joined together”.
The Donnie Creek Fire is one of 83 fires burning in British Columbia and one of 413 active fires across the country.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a news conference Monday that modeling shows this could be a particularly severe wildfire season in several parts of Canada.
“It’s a scary time for a lot of people, not just in Alberta, but across the country, including the Atlantic, the North and Quebec as well,” he said.
Mme Caranci said the fire department plans to continue battling the Donnie Creek fire for weeks, if not months.