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British Columbia

No more wildfires of note burning in B.C.

There are no longer any wildfires of noteburning inBritishColumbia, with theB.C. Wildfire Service saying favourable weather has allowed crews to make good progress in the province's wildfire battle.

Weekend rain across a large area of the province has dampened the number and risk of wildfires

White smoke billows from a mountainside.
The Corya Creek wildfire in northwest B.C. is no longer a wildfire of note. (B.C. Wildfire Service)

There are no longer any wildfires of noteburning inBritishColumbia, with theB.C. Wildfire Service saying favourable weather has allowed crews to make good progress in the province's wildfire battle.

The Corya Creek wildfire, about 170 kilometres northeast of Terrace,B.C., was the last fire to be tagged with the label, which was lifted on Monday.

The wildfire of notedesignation indicates a fire that is highly visible or that poses a threat to people or public safety.

Fire information officer Emilie Peacock cautions the changing statusdoesn't mean the wildfire season is over.

There arestill a handful of evacuation orders and alerts impacting communities around the province, and more than 700 firefighters and 100 aircraft remain fighting fires.

Southern parts of the province saw heavy rain in the past few days, but parts of the north continue to experience drought conditions, according to Peacock.

TheB.C. Wildfire Service shows that the number of active fires in the province has fallen to about 295, continuing a downward trend from Friday when there were about 340 fires burning.

At the same time, strong winds created tree hazards for some crews, with gusts of up to 102 kilometres per hour accompanying the heavy precipitation that fell in the south.

The wind blew trees down along fire lines in the south,forcing a fire camp inInvermere,B.C., to move to another location. No one was injured.

Aquick drying trend is expected due to the underlying drought once the storms move out, withEnvironment Canada forecasting a return of warmer, drier weather for most ofB.C. as Labour Day weekend approaches.

B.C. Wildfire says the provinceis "still in the core of our wildfire season," but firefighters are making the most of reduced fire behaviour and good weather.

"Several large fires have moved from being held to under control, and many are in the mop-up stage," it said.

The number of out-of-control wildfires in the province has dropped to about 79. More than 10,000 square kilometres of land has been burned inB.C. in this year's fire season starting April 1.

Last year's record wildfire season saw more than 28,000 square kilometres of land burned and forced the evacuations of communities in regions including the Okanagan and Shuswap.