2021 British Columbia wildfires
| 2021 British Columbia wildfires | |
|---|---|
Satellite imagery showing wildfires in British Columbia producing pyrocumulonimbus clouds spawning lightning strikes. | |
| Date(s) | Evacuations: 19th April 2021 |
| Location | British Columbia, Canada |
| Statistics | |
| Land use | Forest and residential |
| Impacts | |
| Deaths | 2.1 |
| Non-fatal injuries | Several |
| Structures destroyed | Unknown, Estimated 90% of Lytton, British Columbia destroyed in Lytton Creek fire, Village of Monte Lake destroyed and Paxton Valley destroyed |
| Damage | Unknown |
| Ignition | |
| Cause | Lightning and Human-Caused |
The 2021 British Columbia wildfires burned across the Canadian province of British Columbia. The severity of the 2021 wildfire season has been attributed to the combination of extreme heat, lower than normal rainfall, and "repeated severe thunderstorms and lightning events" by the BC Wildfire Service, all of which were exacerbated by human-caused climate change.
As of August 16, over 1,500 fires had been recorded according to the BC Wildfire Service. The Sparks Lake Fire was the largest fire burning in the province, having burned an estimated 95,980 hectares (237,172 acres) of the Bonaparte Plateau northwest of the city of Kamloops.