B.C.’s wildfire season ramps up: Major highway closed, heavy smoke blankets areas

Wildfire season has ramped up in B.C. with about 150 wildfires burning across the province.

The Mine Creek fire, burning north of Hope, is now mapped at 1,900 hectares and has forced the closure of the Coquihalla Highway between Hope and Merritt.

“There’s definitely been an uptick over the last week period. I would say we were in a period of about 10 days of dry, drought-like conditions,” Aydan Coray with the BC Wildfire Service said.

“So following that through the weekend, we had a lightning event across the province with about 6,000 strikes. Obviously, that’s a significant amount of activity on the landscape. So for September, not unheard of, but definitely an increase over the last period here.”

Much of B.C. is under a blanket of smoke and Environment Canada has issued air quality