Prince George, B.C. –  “We’ve got a bit of a front moving  southeastward across the Province” says Kevin Skreplnek, Chief Information Officer with the B.C. Wildfire Service.

“With that we are going to be seeing some unstable  weather in some areas, that is going to be translating into rain, in other areas it’s going to be translating into wind and potentially some isolated thundershowers.”

It’s the  wind that  has,  and  continues to be a challenge for fire fighters says Skrepnek “It will definitely affect some of the fires we’ve got burning across the province,  it’s not looking  like it’s going to see much rain reach the east Kootenays where we’ve got a number of fires so it’s definitely cause for concern because there’s going to be some wind in there”

Although  there will be what Skrepnek calls a “good smattering of rain” across the southern half of the Province,  and it will likely  help  matters in the Cariboo,  he says this is not the beginning  of the end of the fire season “It certainly is going to be a welcome reprieve for a few days,  I don’t think we’re going to  see rain in terms of volume that  will put these fires out, by any  stretch of the imagination.  Any moisture is welcome  just given  how dry it is out there, but it’s not going to end the fire season by any stretch of the imagination.”

There are  159 fires burning in B.C.,   which have  burned 1,163,210 hectares   and fire suppression costs  are now pegged at $484.7 million dollars.