Prince George, B.C. -The wildfire season in British Columbia  is far from over,   and is already the second worst  in nearly 60 years.

So far,   the 954 fires  in the province  since April 1st of this year, have consumed 621 thousand hectares.   In terms of hectares burned,   only  the fires in 1958 were  more destructive,  consuming 855 thousand hectares.

However,   there is still plenty of fire season left  in 2017 and Wildfire Chief Information Officer  Kevin Skrepnek  warns  there are  difficult days ahead “Saturday is when we start to see a bit of a shift,  we are  going to see rain on  the Coast,  scattered,  isolated showers in the Interior starting Saturday night with this shift though, we are going to  see increased winds and  of course the potential for more lightning.  That could make the  situation worse before that rain arrives.”

He says  the  predicted rain is looking “rather scattered  right now, Sunday is when we  will start to see precipitation fairly wide spread”  he says there is a potential for more  thunderstorms,  “There are areas right now where it looks like the rain will not reach it at all.”

He says  at this point the rain is forecast to end by early next week but cooler temperatures and gusty winds will remain.

So far, the cost to the BC Wildfire Service  to battle the fires this  year,  has hit $264.3 million dollars.