Bouts of rain unlikely to dampen fire risk, campers warned
• Coastal Inspiration out for repairs, affecting ferry-trip plans • Police boosting enforcement for impaired driving on weekend
The first part of the Canada Day long weekend might continue to be cloudy and wet in parts of Vancouver Island, but that doesn’t mean people should drop their guard when it comes to wildfires.
“Be smart, be safe,” said Coastal Fire Centre spokeswoman Dortat Jakobsen.
There were no wildfires burning on the Island as of Thursday afternoon. Since April 1, the B.C. Wildfire Service has dealt with 568 wildfires in B.C. — of which 40 per cent were believed to be caused by humans.
Anyone who thinks a few rainy spells will quell fire dangers has it wrong, Jakobsen said.
“It’s not hard to be under our beautiful forest canopy and have it be dry in the ground,” she said.
Safety tips include never lighting a campfire in windy conditions, never leaving a campfire unattended and always having a shovel or at least eight litres of water on hand.
Along with existing municipal rules, there are currently no fireworks allowed on Crown land within the Coastal Fire Centre — save for Haida Gwaii and a narrow strip called the “fog zone” on west and north Vancouver Island.
Saturday’s forecast in the capital region calls for clouds and a 60 per cent chance of rain, followed by at least four days of a sun-and-cloud mix and high temperatures of 20 or 21 C. There will be more chance of rain farther north.
The sort of weather coming up is common for this time of year, said Environment Canada meteorologist Lisa Erven.
“It’s a bit of a mixed-bag forecast for the long weekend,” she said.
Erven said it never seems to be definite that July 1 is going to be hot and sunny.
“It’s still coming out of June, transitioning from what we typically call the cold-flow season, so lots of showers and cooler temperatures.”
For B.C. Ferries, traffic is expected to be busy on all routes through Tuesday, with the Departure Bay-Horseshoe Bay route especially so. B.C. Ferries had planned to add Coastal Inspiration to the route to deal with demand, but repairs on the vessel are taking longer than expected.
That has led B.C. Ferries to advise that only people with vehicle reservations use the route over the weekend. Some tips: Travel as a foot passenger, take a bus or get a ride to the terminal to avoid parking, and travel before 9 a.m.
Coastal Inspiration should be back in service on Monday, in time to help with the last portion of weekend traffic. To deal with the surge of traffic, B.C. Ferries added a late sailing from Horseshoe Bay at 12:30 a.m. at the end of the sailing day on Thursday and again today.
Extra sailings are also in place on the Swartz Bay-Tsawwassen route for the summer, said B.C. Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall, and some 6 a.m., 10 p.m. and Friday-only midnight sailings have been added.
“Typically the long weekends are the busiest for us,” she said
This weekend marks the beginning of stepped-up enforcement for impaired driving. On average, each Canada Day sees one death and 190 injuries in 730 motor-vehicle incidents provincewide, while Vancouver Island has an average of nine impaired-driving related deaths each year.
“If your long weekend involves alcohol, plan ahead and plan for a safe ride home,” said Saanich police Sgt. Jereme Leslie.
He said that anybody seeing a driver they suspect is impaired by alcohol or drugs is encouraged to call 911.