FILE PHOTO - Dozens of homes were destroyed when the Elephant Hill (formerly Ashcroft Reserve fire) ripped through the Boston Flats Trailer park between Ashcroft and Cache Creek.
(KIM ANDERSON / iNFOnews.ca)
July 19, 2017 - 8:00 PM
One month into the wildfire season in B.C.and the total number of hectares burned has already doubled the ten year average.
Over the last ten years, the average number of hectares burned each year in the province is 154,944. To date this year, 327,283 ha in B.C. have been consumed by wildfires, according to July 18, 2017 statistics from the B.C. Wildfire Service.
The Cariboo Fire Centre is being hit with the most fire activity with an estimated 248,471 ha, or about 2484 square km, burned to date.
In the Kamloops Fire Centre, 60,052 ha, or about 600 square km, have gone up in smoke.
The Elephant Hill fire (formerly the Ashcroft Reserve fire), burning since July 6, accounts for most of the area destroyed in the Southern Interior at an estimated 52,600 ha. It's still an active fire that's about 30 per cent contained as of today, July 19.
At the onset, the Elephant Hill fire threatened homes and forced the evacuation of several areas in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District. The Cache Creek evacuation order was downgraded to an alert yesterday, and many residents returned home.
Crews have beaten back the interface fire burning 10 km northeast of Princeton and it's now about 60 per cent contained as of today. It's been burning since July 7 and is an estimated 3,300 ha. From the start, this fire was threatening structures and 47 properties were given the go-ahead to return home yesterday.
Just how wide of an area does the 600 square km burned in the Kamloops Fire Centre cover? The maps show the area of land and are for scale purposes only.
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News from © iNFOnews, 2017