As the majority of fires burning in BC, including two on Vancouver Island, are deemed to be human-caused, the Province says it will be focusing efforts on finding those responsible.

Fires caused by people can be by accident or on purpose but officials with the Wildfire Management Branch of BC says efforts will be made to determine the exact cause and who did it.

“These fires are expensive for taxpayers, they’re very dangerous, they put peoples’ lives in jeopardy and they take resources away from our ability to fight lightening-caused fires. We’re going to spend, we being the Province of British Columbia, are going to spend a significant amount of time and effort trying to determine how this fire started and who started it,” said Fire Information Officer Mike McCulley, referring specifically to the 17 hectare fire burning in Port Hardy.

The recent fire activity has many people on edge, including those who fight fires. In the community of Dashwood, north of Qualicum Beach, Fire Chief Nick Acciavatti says his department is now staffing a wild land firefighting truck seven days a week until it rains again.

“I want to be as ready as we can, I want to make sure our members are as ready as they can. I was involved in the ’03 fires in Barriere and McClure and I’ve seen the devastation that can happen there. Different forest, but we’re starting to see that kind of fire behaviour here on the coast which is unprecedented” Acciavatti told CHEK News.