Wildfires over British Columbia and northern Washington on August 8
The Comstock Lake fire, discovered on June 21, was caused by lightning. By July 6, it had grown to 27.5 square kilometres (10.6sqmi) 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.
Wildfires caused severe smoke to cover much of British Columbia. It has impacted tourism and cancelled flights.[18]
The smoke spread across Canada and as far as Ireland. In Prince George, British Columbia smoke orange sky at 8:40 AM, and 9:10 AM turns into midnight from wildfires. Then 3 PM in Grande Prairie, Alberta thick layered smoke plume generated by the fire which turned day into night during the afternoon of that day at the location.[19]
