Summer may still be weeks away, but the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) says it is already busy — and it will only get busier as we continue through a period of unseasonably warm weather.

Fire Information Officer Karley Desrosiers says as of Friday, there are 19 active wildfires in the province. Since April 1, there have already been 109 blazes, which she says is “pretty standard for this time of year.”

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“We do generally see a spike in fires through the month of April and early May, that’s kind of two-fold,” she told 1130 NewsRadio.

“At this point in the season, fuels across the province are very dry still. We haven’t reached that green-up stage, which we see around mid to end of May or early June, depending on where we are in the province.”

Desrosiers explained that green-up is when fuels, such as grasses and trees, start to absorb the moisture from the ground.

“At this point, everything is very dry, especially the grasses and those fine fuels,” she said.

“So it’s not uncommon to get those grass fires early in the season. When those grasses are cured, fires can ignite very easily, and they spread very quickly, and if we even get even a little bit of wind, it can cause a fire to get quite big, quite quickly under the conditions that we’re seeing.”

She says the unseasonably high temperatures across the province are just exacerbating the risk.

And at this time of year, she says, most wildfires are human-caused.

“We generally don’t see lightning-caused as a predominant cause until about July or August,” she said.

“Human-caused wildfires, of course, are preventable. So it’s especially important this time of year when grass is really dry for folks who are out either recreating or doing some backyard cleanup to be especially cautious.”

SUB: BC Wildfire Service urging public to use caution with campfires

The BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) put out a bulletin May 1 urging the public to be cautious with campfires, saying it is important to abide by open burning prohibitions as the weather gets warmer and drier.

This comes after the Cariboo Fire Centre, which is responsible for wildfire response in B.C.’s central interior, had to respond to 14 human-caused wildfires in the past seven days.

“We ask the public to follow all current open burning prohibitions,” the fire centre said.

“Human-caused wildfires divert critical resources away from preparedness and response to naturally occurring fires.”

People are encouraged to check the BCWS website to see what prohibitions exist in their area. Anyone found in contravention of an open fire probition may be fined up to $100,000 and/or be sentenced to one year in jail. If the fire causes or contributes to a wildfire, the fine can go as high as $1 million and could lead to up to three years in jail.