File:Fires and smoke continue in British Columbia (MODIS 2021-08-15).jpg

English: Fueled by three heat waves, strong winds, and dry vegetation, a ferocious fire season continued in British Columbia through mid-August 2021. According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp (CBC), temperatures continued to climb in British Columbia in the third heat wave of the summer. Temperatures rose to mid- to high-30˚C (approximately 95-101˚F) in the province on August 12 and winds began to pick up—both driving increased fire activity. The high daytime temperatures have translated to continued heat through the night, resulting in continued fire behavior overnight. This reduces firefighters’ ability to take advantage of the typical evening cool-off to make headway on active blazes.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of dozens of fires burning in southern British Columbia on August 12. Each red “hotspot” marks an area where the thermal bands on the instrument detected high temperatures. When combined with typical smoke, as in this image, such hotspots are diagnostic for actively burning fires. The strength and unpredictability of the wind is written in the smoke. In some areas, the gray plumes blow strongly to the southeast from the hotspot, while in other locations the direction is more southerly. Smoke from other fires reach southwestward, while in one large area of dense smoke the plumes appear to crisscross. Such strong, variable winds not only push fire growth into fresh vegetation, but it makes fighting the fire much more difficult as the direction shifts.

On August 12, approximately 270 fires were reported burning in British Colombia, with more than 50 evacuation orders in place and over 100 evacuation alerts posted, according to CBC. The BC Wildfire Service reported 12 new fires had started on August 12. One ignited from a natural cause and the other 11 were human-caused. As of that date, there were 1,502 fires reported in British Columbia for the year and 671,385 acres burned.