Dan Miller, former premier and provincial cabinet minister, has been hired as the independent, third-party facilitator for the next stage of the logging contractor sustainability review.

Between July 19 and Aug. 19, 2018, there were 324 new wildfire starts in the Southeast Fire Centre, 90% of which were caused by lightning.

An area restriction order is in place for Crown land in the vicinity of the north-of-Tezzeron Lake wildfire, located about 106 kilometres northwest of Vanderhoof.

Weather permitting, the BC Wildfire Service will be conducting planned ignitions on the Meachen Creek wildfire located within the Meachen Creek drainage, approximately 10 kilometres southwest of St. Mary Lake in the Southeast Fire Centre.

Extremely warm and dry conditions have prompted the Province to set a Level 3 drought rating for the Peace, Upper Fraser East and Upper Fraser West areas.

Effective at noon (Pacific time) on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2018, an existing prohibition on open burning in parts of the Prince George Fire Centre — including campfires, Category 2 open burns and Category 3 open burns — will be expanded to include the Peace Forest District and the Fort Nelson Forest District.

Extremely warm and dry conditions have prompted the Province to set a Level 3 drought rating for the south Boundary region, including the Kettle and Granby rivers.

There are currently several road closures and area restrictions in effect within the Southeast Fire Centre to help ensure the safety of the public and firefighting personnel and to avoid interference with fire-control activities.

There are currently 11 active wildfires in the Bulkley Fire Zone of the Northwest Fire Centre and 23 active wildfires within the Cassiar Fire Zone. Details about some of these fires are provided below.

There have been 87 new wildfire starts in the Southeast Fire Centre since Aug. 11, 2018, 49 of which are in the Boundary, Arrow and Kootenay Lake fire zones.