Prince George, B.C. – The Prince George Fire Centre is bucking the trend when it comes to the cost of fighting wildfires in British Columbia.

To date, according to the BC Wildfire Service, the cost of fighting wildfires in B.C. is $186, 089,625 – substantially higher than the $161,411,731 spent at this date last year.

But when it comes to the Prince George Fire Centre it’s a different picture – this year to date $20,251,205, has been spent – less than half the $41,561,964 spent at this time last year.

All of this despite the fact fires have torched over 212,000 hectares of forest in 2015, roughly 67,000 more hectares than at this time last year.

“More hectares burnt doesn’t always equate to more money spent,” says fire information officer Ryan Turcot.

And though a breakdown on money spent wasn’t available at press time, he says it is possible there have been more modified response fires (not fully suppressed) and less initial and expanded attack blazes (which require crews of firefighters to battle) this year.

So where have costs jumped the highest in B.C.? The Coastal Fire Centre, where costs to date are $29,942,399 – nearly five times the amount spent at this time last year ($6,295,322).