Image Credit: ADOBE STOCK

Depending on the winter, summer blazes burning well into the cooler seasons could rise again this spring.

The B.C. Wildfire Service still lists the White Rock Lake, Bunting Road, Garrison Lake, July Mountain, Lytton Creek, Tremont Creek and Sparks Lake wildfires on its active wildfire map in the Kamloops Fire Centre’s region which covers the region from the Okanagan to Lytton, and north to Wells Gray Provincial Park.

Wildfires are considered active until the fire is completely out, or the ground is cool to the touch, so it's possible there are still active smouldering areas in the fire centre, wildfire service fire information officer Karley Desrosiers said.

Crews are still monitoring fires throughout B.C. and will be dispatched to them if they become more active, she said.

The likelihood of a zombie fire or a holdover fire — a fire that burns deep in organic soils and rises again the following spring — depends on the weather.

“It’s generally something we would see in the Prince George Fire Centre, it’s quite dependent on fuel types,” Desrosiers said, adding that areas with denser fuels allow the fires to smoulder for longer periods of time.

“It’s also dependent on the freeze and thaw cycles, and the amount of precipitation in the shorter term,” she said. It’s not as common in the Kamloops Fire Centre as there is less of a ground layer of fuel for the fire to burn in but it can still happen.

Snowfall followed by rising temperature means precipitation could seep into the ground and cool a fire but if it’s just snow with no thaw, the snow can act as an insulation for the fire and it can continue to smoulder in the fuel, Desrosiers said.

“Although 2021 was definitely a unique season compared to some in the past, that doesn’t necessarily mean this will be more likely this year than in other years because it does really depend on the winter that we have,” Desrosiers said.

READ MORE: Canada may see more 'zombie fires' as climate warms and winters shorten: experts

Experts say climate change could impact how many zombie fires are seen throughout Canada.

Steven Cumming, an associate professor at Laval University's department of wood and forest sciences, said recent research shows climate warming may promote the survival of overwintering fires in the future in the boreal regions.

"All I know in Canada is that their existence has been reported more as a matter of folklore," he said. "And what this paper does is give us some idea how often these things might be happening."

The Fort McMurray fire in Alberta and several fires in Northwest Territories were considered zombie fires.

— With files from The Canadian Press

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