The Coastal Fire Centre is responding to six fires started by lightning Wednesday.
As hot, dry conditions grip the province, a half-dozen central Vancouver Island forest fires were discovered Wednesday as a result of lightning.
Thunderstorms took place throughout the mid-Island and the fires are located south of Mt. Washington, south of Gold River and east of Tahsis.
With a heatwave throughout B.C. this week, the B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS) says close to 100 new wildfires started over the last couple days in the province, and the majority are lightning-caused.
#BC saw significant lightning activity over the past 24 hrs. As a result, 98 new wildfires started today – the majority being lightning-caused. The coloured circles on the map below indicate where lightning struck today. #BCwildfire pic.twitter.com/hfCBXSn3St
— BC Wildfire Service (@BCGovFireInfo) June 21, 2018
Donna MacPherson of the Coastal Fire Centre says the most northern of the Island fires is also the largest at 4 hectares Thursday morning, with 15 crew members and a helicopter working on the blaze that is producing heavy smoke just east of Vernon Lake.
Three crew members and a helicopter are working on another smaller blaze southeast of Vernon Lake.
The largest of three fires west of Courtenay is about five kilometres south of Mt. Washington and is an estimated 0.6 hectares in size.
Another three kilometres south of that, a 0.3-hectare fire is burning and MacPherson says five crew members have been assigned to work on each of those.
An estimated 0.01-hectare fire is happening at Paradise Creek.
A fire at Hanging Creek, south of Gold River, is estimated to be 0.01 hectares and also caused by lightning.
A fire caused by a tree struck lightning was discovered Thursday morning in the Okisollo Channel just north of Quadra Island.
MacPherson says it is surrounded by water and no crews are attending.
A suspected human-caused fire was discovered Wednesday at Robertson/Fleet River, west of Duncan, but MacPherson says it was on private forest land and has been put out.
MacPherson advises you to call the B.C. Wildfire Service if you see smoke as soon as possible to help crews respond.
If you have a wildfire to report, you can call 1-800-663-5555 or *5555.
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