Prince George, B.C. -Emergency Management B.C. has  updated the  assessments on property damage, and says  wildfires in B.C. this year have  caused  damage to  431 structures so far, and 220 of those structures are  homes.

Chris Duffy, Executive Director of Operations with Emergency Management B.C.  says  the  numbers don’t  reflect the extent of damage to each structure, noting some would have  minor damage, others  have been destroyed.

Further areas will be assessed  when  it is safe to do so.

The Cariboo Regional District has already indicated  that within its region, 202 structures, including 62 homes have been  damaged or destroyed by flames.

There is no end in site to the  fires that have plagued the  province for  60 days says BC Wildfire Service Chief Information Officer Kevin Skrepnek  “In terms of the weather we’ve got and the forecast we have now for the next five to 7 days,  there is some rain  in there, some showers,  is that going to put a real dent in what we’re facing out there? Not likely.”

Skrepnek says the forecast  is for similar systems that have been in the province over the course of the summer, “A few days of reprieve in terms of aggressiveness of the fires, and then likely returning to where they were before, that’s all  to do with the fact that it is so dry out there.”

He says the deeper levels of the forest floor are extremely dry ” A sprinkle of rain here and there is only going to provide momentary relief.  We need  a long sustained soaking of rain, right across  the province.  Certainly if we want to see an end to this (fire) season that’s what we’re going to need.”

Skrepnek says  as  the season changes, the days are shorter and  typically there are cooler temperatures,  but as has been the case this week,  there have been many  record high temperatures recorded in B.C. this week.

As of today, there are 158 fires burning in the province,  and 1,152,890 hectares  have been burned.  Fire suppression costs to date   are $473.4 million.