British Columbia is at risk of more fast-growing wildfires due to widespread drought, Canadian officials said Tuesday, warning of historically low water levels at a massive interior lake.
The western Canadian province has 102 active wildfires, including the Bald Range blaze, which began Friday and spread through the weekend at terrifying speed, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes.
Provincial Forests Minister Ravi Parmar told reporters officials were "expecting a high potential for lightning-caused wildfire starts."
"New ignitions occurring during these periods of hot and dry weather can establish and spread quickly," he said.
There was no immediate timeline given for those displaced by the Bald Range fire to return home.
BC Wildfire Service Operations Director Cliff Chapman told reporters that crews continued to record "explosive" behavior from the blaze.
Several of BC's most destructive active wildfires including the Bald Range fire are burning near the 120 km-long Okanagan Lake, which snakes through a southern stretch of the province.
BC Water Minister Randene Neill told reporters the province was confronting entrenched drought conditions that should already be raising alarm for summers to come.
"We know that the worst fires burning in BC are in areas of severe drought," Neill said, attributing the drought in the province to multiple factors, including limited snowpack and reduced spring and summer rainfall.
{{/usCountry}}"We know that the worst fires burning in BC are in areas of severe drought," Neill said, attributing the drought in the province to multiple factors, including limited snowpack and reduced spring and summer rainfall.
{{/usCountry}}"Okanagan Lake is recording its lowest levels ever since the province started recording lake levels," she added.
"Without substantial recharge of water levels, we will start next season in potentially an even worse situation than we are this summer.
"So it's critical that we do our part this year to ensure that we conserve water as much as we can," Neill said.
Nationwide, Canada is highly vulnerable to intense, fast-spreading wildfires because of its vast stretches of unmanaged boreal forest.
Average temperatures in the country are also increasing roughly twice as fast as the global average.
Human-induced climate change doubled the likelihood of the extreme fire conditions behind this year's Canadian wildfires, researchers at the World Weather Attribution group have said.
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