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A year after the single worst season for wildfires in British Columbia’s history, government statistics indicate the 2018 wildfire season has already reached the second-worst mark, burning 945 square kilometres of land so far.

That should prompt a longer look and more research into the trend, which saw more than 2,100 square kilometres of land burned over the past two years, said the province’s chief fire information officer.

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Speaking from the Provincial Wildfire Coordination Centre in Kamloops, Skrepnek explained how the two seasons have been very different so far.

He said in 2017, the most troublesome fires all started in a three-day period in early July, burning for months and merging with other fires. While fires merging is a common phenomenon, he said the sheer volume of blazes ignited in those three days created weeks-long battles for firefighters.

“We had hundreds of fires start in that period. And the major incidents that turned into the massive fires — the 100,000-hectare-plus fires that basically burned until the fall — were in that period,” said Skrepnek.