09/05/2026
I got off a Provincial update call about an hour ago that's available to Mayors and RD Chairs across BC to hear from authorities in several ministries about fire, flood, drought, and other natural disasters. Over the summer these calls take place every two weeks. I've attached a couple snippets of data showing the change in wildfire ignition probability between August 11 (our last call) and Sept 1 (from today's call).
What the Province is seeing is a drastic downturn in the severity in conditions, and a more 'normal' weather pattern leading into the start of the fall. That's cooler temperatures, rain (or at least dew overnight), and less heat intensity.
There are still a lot of people affected: 206 homes under evacuation order (down 1,506) and 906 homes under evacuation alert (down 14,684), but this is good news overall.
How are we affected locally? SCRD staff will provide a water supply update at our next meeting, but the latest information I have is that our lakes are mostly full, and it's very unlikely that we need to go beyond stage 2 this year (third year in a row, thanks to process improvements, new supply, and a bit of rain).
It's a lot of data, and some of it technical, but the folks at the Province are always very good about answering questions from folks on the call about how it affects them locally.
