The official BC Wildfire map is now online. While the disclaimer says data “is updated when practicable and the occurrence of individual fire updates will vary,” it provides members of the public with a relatively up to date picture of what’s happening around the province.
Following The Little Green Dot
The map is divided between six fire centres: “Coastal,” “Northwest,” “Prince George,” “Caribou,” “Kamloops” and “Southeast.”
I was interested in the little green dot in the Coastal section, the only active fire in our area. Zooming in on it, I came to a map displaying two patches just north of Squamish. A box stating the “Magree Road” fire is “under control” popped up after I clicked on the green dot.
Top Box
According to the box in the top left hand column, there have been 135 fires so far this year and 18 in this past week. This is the first of three slides. Click on the control button in the top right and it will fill your screen.
The second slide shows us that 112 of these fires were human caused, 1 by lightening and 22 of causes unknown.
The third slide shows there are 9 active fires today and 8 of them are under control.
(As there is no “home” or “return” functions, you have to shrink the slide to get out of the box. )
Middle Box
The middle box is devoted to active fires.
One of the slides shows that 7 fires are human caused, and two of unknown origins. Another shows the current status of these fires (new, out of control, under control etc).
Lower Box
The lower box is devoted to information from fire centres. In one slide we see that there is 1 fire in the Coastal region, 2 in the Northwest, 3 in Prince George, 2 in Kamloops and 1 in the Southeast. Other slides tell us there are no fires of note today, no fire alerts or evacuation orders and no area restrictions. However there are fire bans & prohibitions.
Clicking on the Coastal Fire Centre link, I came to a new page that showed while campfires are permiitted, there are restrictions on open fires throughout British Columbia.
This was posted a month ago: “Effective at noon (Pacific time) on Thursday, April 16, 2020, most open burning activities will be prohibited throughout British Columbia to reduce the likelihood of human-caused wildfires.”
Available For Download
The BC Wildfire Service mobile app is available for Apple (iOS) and Android devices and is free to download in the App Store and Google Play.
Android: The BC Wildfire Service mobile app can be downloaded at Google Play:- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ca.bc.gov.WildfireInformation
Apple (iOS): The BC Wildfire Service mobile app can be downloaded from the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bc-wildfire-service/id1477675008?ls=1
Learn More:
For further details about the BC Wildfire Service mobile app, refer to the online reference guide: http://ow.ly/dZkr30qDdfM
To learn about current wildfire activity, open burning prohibitions, evacuation alerts, evacuation orders and more, check out the app or go to the B.C. Wildfire Dashboard. Click on the Interactive Wildfire Map link: http://www.bcwildfire.ca
Follow the latest wildfire news:
- on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BCGovFireInfo
- on Facebook: http://facebook.com/BCForestFireInfo
Connect with the Province of B.C. at: news.gov.bc.ca/connect
- Fire Information Officer
- BC Wildfire Service
- Provincial Wildfire Coordination Centre
- FIREINFO@gov.bc.ca
- 250 312-3051