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The area consumed by wildfires in the province so far this season is less than one per cent of the area burned in each of the past two summers, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service.

Since April 1, 466 fires have been recorded in B.C. but just 11,568 hectares burned, more than half of that in the Prince George fire region.

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That’s down from 2,117 fires and 1,354,284 hectares burned last year, the worst on record. Last year at this time fires had destroyed more than four times as much forest, according to wildfire service spokeswoman Kyla Fraser.

“Fire activity is quiet right now, especially in the southern half of the province,” she said. “We’ve had rain over the weekend, so fire danger there is very low.”

Persistent dry weather across Alaska, Yukon and the northern reaches of the western provinces will likely continue through much of the summer, leading to a greater fire risk, according to Richard Carr of the Canadian Forest Service.