2018 British Columbia wildfires
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Ended, 2018
Provincial state of emergency: August 15, 2018 – September 7, 2018
| 2018 British Columbia wildfires | |
|---|---|
 Wildfire smoke from the Pacific to the Rocky Mountains and beyond, filling the BC interior and Eastern Washington; August 20, 2018 | |
| Date(s) | Evacuations: Ended, 2018 Provincial state of emergency: August 15, 2018 – September 7, 2018 |
| Location | British Columbia, Canada |
| Statistics | |
| Burned area | 1,351,314[1] hectares (3,339,170 acres) as of November 9, 2018[1] |
| Land use | Forest and residential |
| Impacts | |
| Deaths | Unknown |
| Non-fatal injuries | Unknown |
| Structures destroyed | ~50 [2] |
| Damage | Unknown |
| Ignition | |
| Cause | Lightning and Human-Caused |
| Season | |
← 2017 | |
By the end of June 2018, there had been more than 560 wildfires in British Columbia.[3]
The Comstock Lake fire, discovered on June 21, was caused by lightning. By July 6, it had grown to 27.5 square kilometres (10.6 sq mi) and was not fully contained.[4] At one point over 200 personnel were fighting the fire complex.[5]
The Tugwell Creek fire near Sooke grew to 85 hectares (210 acres), and was 10% contained by July 4.[6] The fire threatened millions of honeybees at Tugwell Creek Honey Farm and Meadery. It was fully contained on July 9.[7]
The Shovel Fire, started on July 27, burned at least 86,397 hectares (213,490 acres), and was still active as of August 20. Thick smoke harmed efforts to contain the fire.[8]
A human-caused fire at Nanaimo Lakes, discovered on July 1, reached 14.5 hectares by July 4.[6]
A total of 2,115 wildfires burned 1,351,314 hectares (3,339,170 acres) of land in 2018 as of November 9.[9]
As of August 28, initial estimates put 2018 as the largest burn-area in a British Columbia wildfire season,[1] surpassing the historic 2017 wildfire season (1,216,053 total hectares).[10] The total land burned in 2018 represented about ~1.4% of the total area of the province.
| Ranking | Fire | Size | Date discovered | Status | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tweedsmuir Complex fire | 301,549 hectares (745,140 acres) | August 8 | Out | [11] |
| 2 | Johnny Creek Fire | 156,775 hectares (387,400 acres) | August 4 | Out | [12] |
| 3 | Alkali Lake Complex fire | 121,215 hectares (299,530 acres) | August 1 | Out | [13] |
| 4 | Lutz Creek Complex fire | 100,799 hectares (249,080 acres) | August 4 | Out | [12] |
| 5 | Shovel Lake fire | 92,412 hectares (228,360 acres) | July 27 | Out | [8] |
| 6 | Nadina Lake fire | 86,767 hectares (214,410 acres) | July 31 | Out | [14] |
| 7 | Verdun Mountain fire | 47,610 hectares (117,600 acres) | July 31 | Out | [15] |
| 8 | Silver Lake fire | 23,042 hectares (56,940 acres) | August 5 | Out | [16] |
| 9 | Tommy Lakes | 21,795 hectares (53,860 acres) | May 22 | Out | [17] |
| 10 | Island Lake fire | 21,381 hectares (52,830 acres) | August 1 | Out | [16] |
| 11 | Chutanli Lake fire | 20,813 hectares (51,430 acres) | August 1 | Out | [16] |