Plateau Complex fire

Plateau Complex
Part of 2017 British Columbia wildfires
Fires in the Cariboo before merging, July 18, 2017
Date
  • July 7, 2017
LocationCariboo Regional District, British Columbia, Canada
Statistics
Total fires19
Total area545,151 ha

The Plateau Complex was a wildfire in the Canadian province of British Columbia in 2017. The complex was a result of the merging of 19 separate wildfires over the months of July and August.[1] At a final size of 545,151 hectares (1,347,100 acres), it is the second largest fire in B.C. history.[2] The fire burned in the Interior plateau in the Cariboo and Chilcotin regions, approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) northwest of the city of Williams Lake.[3]

Background

The 2017 fire season in B.C. was, at the time, the most destructive in terms of area burned in the province's history.[4] The Cariboo region saw high temperatures throughout the month of June, increasing the fire risk.[1] The area had been severely affected by the mountain pine beetle epidemic, which had killed off significant amounts of lodgepole pine.[5] This resulted in a very high Build-Up Index, a measure of available flammable material in forest areas.[1]

Ignition and spread

The first of the many fires that would become the Plateau Complex was noticed in the province's Cariboo region on July 7th.[6] A large number of fires were sparked by a major system of thunderstorms that moved through the region between July 6th and 8th. The fire was detected inside Itcha Ilgachuz Provincial Park.[6] The fires that would become the complex saw large growth at the end of July, and by mid-August, some had joined together.[6] Some of the individual fires that burned into each other included the Chezacut, Tautri, Bishop’s Bluff, Baezaeko, Wentworth Creek, and Arc Mountain fires.[3]

Impacts

The Plateau Complex fire, as well as several other major fires in the same region (such as the Hanceville-Riske Creek fire and the Elephant Hill fire), led to a provincial state of emergency for a total of 10 weeks, the longest at the time.[7] Five homes and 25 structures were destroyed by the fire.[7] Logging is a major industry in the region; the fires caused a loss of approximately 22,000,000 cubic metres (780,000,000 cu ft) of green timber.[5] Also lost were important habitats for bighorn sheep, old growth forests, and forests and facilities in provincial parks.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Wildfire Season Summary - Province of British Columbia". www2.gov.bc.ca. BC Wildfire Service, Province of British Columbia. Retrieved 2025-05-03.
  2. ^ Kulkarni, Akshay (June 18, 2023). "Donnie Creek wildfire in northeast B.C. now the largest recorded in province's history". CBC News.
  3. ^ a b Lamb-Yorski, Monica (2017-08-22). "Plateau Fire largest in B.C. history". The Williams Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2025-06-12.
  4. ^ "Canadian Disaster Database". bdc.securitepublique.gc.ca. Public Safety Canada, Government of Canada. 2018-12-21. Retrieved 2025-06-11.
  5. ^ a b c Nichols, Diane; Ethier, Tom (January 19, 2018). Post-Natural Disturbance Forest Retention Guidance - 2017 Wildfires (PDF) (Report). Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, Province of British Columbia.
  6. ^ a b c Crowley, Morgan A.; Cardille, Jeffrey A.; White, Joanne C.; Wulder, Michael A. (July 2019). "Generating intra-year metrics of wildfire progression using multiple open-access satellite data streams". Remote Sensing of Environment. 232 111295. Bibcode:2019RSEnv.23211295C. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2019.111295.
  7. ^ a b Lamb-Yorski, Monica (July 20, 2018). "Tried and tested, Cariboo Chilcotin residents move beyond 2017 wildfires".

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