Cost of fighting B.C. wildfires tops $500M so far this year, says premier

John Horgansaid British Columbia will spendhalf a billion dollarsor more fighting wildfires this year, well over three times what was budgeted.

The premier made the comments while speaking in Logan Lake, a town that had to be evacuated early this month when the Tremont Creek wildfire came within dangerous range.

"We are going to spend, so far, I think it's half a billion dollars, on firefighting in this calendar year and we're still in August. And there is more to doand there will be more resources spent," said Horgan.

B.C.'s 2021 wildfire budget was set at$136 million.

Last year, theprovincespent $193.7 million fightingwildfires.In 2017, the worst fire season on record, the province spent$649 million.

Horgan said the province intends to change how it budgets for wildfiresto better fund fire prevention and a 12-month-a-year approach.

"The way we have fought fires in B.C. historically going back many, many years isthere's a notional amount of money in the budget, and if you overspend that, you just find it through contingencies," he said.

"If wehave resources at the front end of the year, B.C. Wildfire Service can retain people to do the work, to assist with Fire Smart, to ... create guards around those interface communities," he said.

Since April 1, there have been 1,552 wildfires in the province with864,473 hectares of area burned.

The number of wildfires burning as of Friday haddropped to238, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service, thanks to cooler temperatures and rain. The number of firefighters and other personnel currently fighting wildfires is 3,238.

The provincial state of emergency relating to wildfires is set to expire Sep. 1. Horgan said officials will be meeting to decide whether it needs to be extended.

Thirty-five evacuation orders remain in place affecting 3,500 properties, all located in the central region of the province. Another 7,700 properties are under evacuation alert, meaning residents have to be ready to leave at a moments notice should the local wildfire situation worsen.

The state of emergency ensures federal, provincial and local resources are co-ordinatedto help those who suffer lossesor have to evacuate due to wildfire.

Horgan told reporters his government has learned a great deal from this year's fire season which saw the village of Lytton devastated, dozens more properties burned and thousands of people forced out of their homes.