The 2021 British Columbia wildfires burned across the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. The severity of the 2021 wildfire season has been attributed to the combination of extreme heat, lower than normal rainfall, and "repeated severe thunderstorms and lightning events" by the BC Wildfire Service, all of which were exacerbated by human-caused

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. As of August 16, over 1,500 fires had been recorded according to the

BC Wildfire Service BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) is the wildfire suppression service of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is an element of the Ministry of Forests. Operations For suppression purposes, the BCWS divides the province of British Columbia int ...

. The Sparks Lake Fire was the largest fire burning in the province, having burned an estimated 95,980 hectares (237,172 acres) of the

Bonaparte Plateau The Bonaparte Plateau, in British Columbia, Canada, is a sub-plateau of the Thompson Plateau which extends to the Quesnel River and lies between the Cariboo Mountains on the east and the Fraser River on the west. The Thompson Plateau is itself ...

northwest of the city of

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the North Thompson River, North and South Thompson Rivers, which join to become the Thompson River in Kamloops, and east of Kamloops Lake. The city is the ad ...

Development

heat dome A heat dome is a weather phenomenon consisting of extreme heat that is caused when the atmosphere traps hot air as if bounded by a lid or cap. Heat domes happen when strong high pressure atmospheric conditions remain stationary for an unusual amou ...

gripped the province of

, and much of

Western North America Western North America is the western edge of the North American continent that borders the Pacific Ocean. It consists of Alaska at the farthest north, down through the western Canadian province of British Columbia, the western U.S. states of Wa ...

, from June 25–30, 2021, increasing the risk of wildfires. On June 30, the town of Lytton was evacuated due to a fire that destroyed most buildings and grew to over and sent people fleeing for their lives. By July 1, 2021, almost 500 wildfires were burning across British Columbia. On July 20 the B.C. government declared a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...

Wildfires

The following is a list of fires that burned more than , or produced significant structural damage or casualties. More up to date information is available using this interactive map
BC Wildfire Service Map

Development

Wildfires

References

See also