PlaceDossier / BC places / Wildfires / 2020
BC wildfire season 2020
In 2020, the BC Wildfire Service recorded 670 wildfires, and their mapped perimeters cover 14,345 ha (143 km²): the 29th-largest season since 1990 by area. 4 fires grew past 1,000 ha and account for 85% of that area; the largest was the Doctor Creek wildfire at 7,646 ha.
Fires of 1,000 ha or more in 2020Other years since 1990
The 4 large fires of 2020, largest first
- 1Doctor Creek (N21257)August 17, 2020 · East Kootenay, Electoral Area F; East Kootenay, Electoral Area E7,646 ha
- 2Christie Mountain (K51287)August 18, 2020 · Okanagan-Similkameen, Electoral Area D2,142 ha
- 3Talbott Creek (N51250)August 17, 2020 · Central Kootenay, Electoral Area H1,303 ha
- 4N71114July 16, 2020 · Central Kootenay, Electoral Area D1,160 ha
Under each fire: when it started and the places with the most of it. Bars compare each fire with the season's largest.
| Wildfires recorded | 670 |
|---|---|
| Area inside mapped perimeters | 14,345 ha (143 km²) |
| Fires of 1,000 ha or more | 4, covering 12,250 ha |
| Rank by area since 1990 | 29th of 36 |
Every fire of 1,000 ha or more since 1990, as the BC Wildfire Service mapped it. A perimeter is the fire's outer edge: patches inside it may not have burned, and the hectares are the area inside it. A fire that burned through the winter keeps the year it started. Names are the province's; a fire without one goes by its fire number. The area adds up every perimeter of the season, small fires included; where two fires' perimeters overlap, the ground is counted twice, so totals can differ from the BC Wildfire Service's season summary.
Past fire is history, not a forecast. The chance of fire on a lot today depends on what the record doesn't show: the forest and grass around it, the slope, what has been thinned or burned since, and how far it is from a fire hall.
Sources: BC Wildfire Fire Perimeters – Historical, BC Wildfire Service; BC Wildfire Fire Perimeters – Current, BC Wildfire Service; BC Wildfire Fire Incident Locations – Historical, BC Wildfire Service; BC Wildfire Fire Locations – Current, BC Wildfire Service (Open Government Licence – British Columbia), as published on October 2, 2026. Outlines simplified and places measured by PlaceDossier.