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“The spike in physician visits due to respiratory issues are also getting to unprecedented numbers,” he said. “All these impacts of wildfires are getting to levels we have never seen before.”

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control reported a 120-per-cent increase in daily physician visits and an 80 per cent increase in asthma medication prescriptions last summer.

Photo by B.C. WILDFIRE SERVICE / HANDOUT / PNG

As our forests are increasingly ravaged by disease and pests such as pine beetle or bark beetle and weakened by drought, fire risk climbs ever higher in a snowball effect, he said.

“Fire has become a much more complex phenomenon for us to navigate,” he said.

Weather Network meteorologist Doug Gillham notes that fire season is off to an early start in Western Canada and fears a higher than normal threat of wildfires and smoky conditions.

About 5,000 people in High Level, Alta., and surrounding communities have been out of their homes since the long weekend, as the Chuckegg Creek fire rages three kilometres outside the town. The fire — still out of control — has swept over 127,000 hectares.

Residents on the Sunshine Coast have been unnerved by a spate of four small brush fires over the past few weeks, one of which consumed two-and-a-half hectares near Smuggler Cove. Earlier this month, a discarded cigarette in Davis Bay ignited a blaze that damaged the offices of MLA Nicholas Simons.

The Fontas River fire southeast of Fort Nelson is the largest active fire in B.C., at about 650 hectares. Nearly 50 firefighters and three helicopters are battling the blaze.

Environment Canada has issued a smoky skies bulletin for parts of northeastern B.C. and the Interior, including the Fort Nelson and neighbouring areas in the Peace River, Cariboo and Bulkley Valley regions.

People with pre-existing health conditions, infants and the elderly are being advised to limit their exposure to smoke.

Photo by B.C. Wildfire Service

The wildfire service has recorded 15 other fires in the month of May, some consuming between 300 and 800 hectares each.

Persistent hot weather has produced rapid melting in the province’s snowpack this spring, with most mid-elevation areas already snow-free, according to the Rivers Forecast Centre.

Snowpacks are the lowest observed in mid-May in the past 40 years and could lead to tight water restrictions in some parts of the province.

As much as 60 per cent of the snowpack has already melted at most sites, compared to no more than 25 per cent during an average season.

Precipitation was 30 to 50 per cent of normal across most of the province in early May, with record-breaking temperatures in many areas.

Centre spokesman Dave Campbell says the severity of this fire season depends on conditions over the next several weeks.

“The rain can make up the difference and we’ve seen that in 2015 when we saw these really low snowpacks but a fairly wet summer, and that was able to make up the difference,” he said.