List of fires in British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost province in Canada, and is prone to fires. Fires are extremely common during summer, and 2017 had the worst fire season on record.[1]

Inclusion criteria and organization edit

Only fires with at least 10,000 hectares burned are allowed, unless deaths involved. The fires are organized by date. If there are multiple fires on a certain date, the larger fire goes on top.

1908 edit

Fire name Hectares burned Date discovered Comments Link
Fernie fire 64,000 22 deaths, town of Fernie completely destroyed. [2]

1938 edit

Fire name Hectares burned Fire Centre Date discovered Comments Link
Bloedel fire 75,000 Sayward July 5 1938 0 deaths, the fire burned for 30 days on the north of Vancouver Island directly outside the village of Sayward. The effort to extinguish the fire was the largest in British Columbia's history up to that point. It was British Columbia's largest recorded wildfire until it was surpassed in size by the Chelaslie River fire in 2014. [3]

2003 edit

Fire name Hectares burned Fire Centre Date discovered Comments Link
Midwinter Lake fire 32,000 Prince George
Chilko Lake/Chilko River fire 29,202 Cariboo
McLure fire 26,420 Kamloops
Okanagan Mountain Park fire 25,600 Kelowna
Lamb Creek fire 11,882 Southeast [4]
McGillvray fire 10,979 Kamloops

2004 edit

Fire name Hectares burned Fire Centre Date discovered Comments Link
Coal River fire 32,000 Prince George
Swan Lake fire 29,962 Northwest
Lonesome Lake fire 22,745 Cariboo Historic "Crusoe of Lonesome Lake" homestead lost. [5]
McBride River fire 14,000 Northwest
Kotcho Lake fire 13,325 Prince George
Kenney fire 10,300 Prince George

2005 edit

Fire name Hectares burned Fire Centre Date discovered Comments Link
15 km East of Tatuk Lake fire 12,371 Prince George

2006 edit

Fire name Hectares burned Fire Centre Date discovered Comments Link
Mt Hamelin fire 12,051 Prince George
Narcosli Ecological Reserve fire 11,500 Cariboo
Tezla Lake fire 10,961 Cariboo
Dall Lake fire 10,600 Prince George

2009 edit

Fire name Hectares burned Fire Centre Date discovered Comments Link
Lava Canyon fire 66,719 Cariboo
Junction of Smith and Liard Rivers fire 23,182 Prince George
Kelly Creek fire 20,925 Cariboo

2010 edit

Fire name Hectares burned Fire Centre Date discovered Comments Link
NW of Meldrum Creek Complex 47,293 Cariboo
Binta Lake fire 40,000 Northwest
Pelican Lake Complex 35,506 Cariboo
Old Faddy fire 35,284 Northwest
Bull Canyon Complex 35,000 Cariboo [6]
Sheslay River fire 28,000 Northwest
NW of Tsacha Lake fire 13,087 Prince George

2011 edit

Fire name Hectares burned Fire Centre Date discovered Comments Link
Blue River fire 11,000 Northwest

2012 edit

Fire name Hectares burned Fire Centre Date discovered Comments Link
White Spruce Creek fire 24,852 Prince George
Suhm Creek fire 12,196 Prince George

2014 edit

Fire name Hectares burned Fire Centre Date discovered Comments Link
Chelaslie River fire 133,098 Northwest
Tenakihi-Mesilinka Complex fire 64,576 Prince George
Forres Mountain fire 29,672 Prince George
Red Deer Creek fire 33,547 Prince George
Mount McAllister fire 26,273 Prince George
Euchiniko Lakes fire 21,518 Prince George

2015 edit

Fire name Hectares burned Fire Centre Date discovered Link
Little Bobtail Lake fire 25,569 Prince George May 8
Elaho fire 12,523 Coastal

2016 edit

Fire name Hectares burned Date discovered Link
Beatton Airport Road fire 15,739 April 18
Siphon Creek Road / Doig Reserve fire 62,700 April 18

2017 edit

Fire name Hectares burned Date discovered Link
Elephant Hill fire 191,865 July 6 [7]
The Plateau fire 545,151 July 7 [8]
Hanceville Riske Creek fire 241,160 July 7 [9]
Kleena Kleene 25,558 July 7 [10]
White Lake fire 13,211 July 7 [11]
Wildwood fire 12,723 July 7 [12]
Kluskoil Lake 1 fire 21,870 July 10 [13]
Gustafsen Lake fire 5,700 July 6 [14]

2018 edit

Fire name Hectares burned Date discovered Link
Tommy Lakes fire 21,795 May 22 [15]
Snowy Mountain fire 17,068 July 17 [16]
Shovel Lake fire 92,255 July 27 [17]
Chutanli Lake fire 20,412 July 30 [18]
North of Tezzeron Lake fire 10,602 July 30 [19]
Nadina Lake fire 86,766 July 31 [20]
Verdun Mountain fire 34,586 July 31 [21]
Alkali Lake fire 118,318 August 1 [22]
Shag Creek fire 12,322 August 1 [23]
Island Lake fire 20,468 August 1 [24]
North Baezaeko fire 11,508 August 1 [25]
Lutz Creek fire 76,100 August 4 [26]
W Babine River fire 10,800 August 5 [27]
Hugh Allen Creek fire 10,000 August 6 [28]
Tweedsmuir Complex 301,549 August 8 [29]
Cool Creek fire 13,626 August 15 [30]

2021 edit

2022 edit

Fire name Hectares burned Date discovered Link
R90436 (Unnamed) 12,330 July 2
Heather Lake fire 14,970 August 21 [31]
Battleship Mountain fire 31,755 August 30 [32]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "B.C. surpasses worst wildfire season on record | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
  2. ^ "firesmartcanada.ca" (PDF). firesmartcanada. June 3, 2018.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ Parminter, John (1994). "Darkness at Noon - The Bloedel Fire of 1938" (PDF). Research Branch of the B.C. Forest Service. Retrieved 2023-07-30.
  4. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2018-06-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ Mickleburgh, Rod (27 July 2004). "B.C. Fire destroys fabled home". The Globe and Mail.
  6. ^ "Wildfire Season Summary - Province of British Columbia".
  7. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
  8. ^ "Wildfire Season Summary". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
  9. ^ "Wildfire Season Summary". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
  10. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
  11. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
  12. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
  13. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
  14. ^ "Gustafsen Wildfire".
  15. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
  16. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  17. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  18. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  19. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  20. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  21. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  22. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  23. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  24. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  25. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  26. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  27. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  28. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  29. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  30. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  31. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2022-09-14.
  32. ^ "Wildfires of Note". bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2022-09-11.