B.C.’s 2021 wildfire season winds down, third biggest in area burned

B.C.’s 2021 wildfire season has burned an area of 8,680 square kilometres, third highest on record but only 61 per cent of the all-time high three years ago. Total area burned in 2018 was 13,542 square kilometres, passing the previous record of 12,160 square kilometres set in 2017. …This year’s wildfire area is more than twice the 10-year average, according to B.C. Wildfire Service statistics up to Sept. 21. More than half of it was in the Kamloops fire district, with the Cariboo and Prince George regions second and third in area affected. Premier Horgan said three severe forest fire seasons in the past five years have convinced him the provincial government has to shift its budget priorities to do more before summer fires get out of control. …B.C.’s spending on wildfire control passed $500 million by September this year, approaching the 2017 total of $649 million and the 2018 expenditure of $615 million.