B.C. is saving millions of dollars in firefighting costs this year, after a cold and rainy summer led to just a fraction of the usual number of wildfires across the province.
So far this year, the BC Forest Service has earned $24 million sending crews to places like Washington State, Idaho and Montana to fight fires much larger than any of the blazes at home.
"A lot of folks were on the road in Alberta, in Ontario, even the Yukon and the United States. So, there has been a lot of activity, but not necessarily locally," the service's Rob Moore told CTV News.
B.C. has spent just $50 million on the 2011 fire season so far, down from a high of $382 million in 2009. Just 11,852 hectares in B.C. have been burned in 510 wildfires this year -- almost 28 times as much land was razed last year in 1,673 fires.
In an average year, the Wildfire Management Branch estimates that there are about 2,000 wildfires in B.C., half of which are caused by people.
In this year's most recent case, firefighters were called to deal with a 22-hectare fire near Falkland Wednesday. At its height, three helicopters and 36 wildfire fighters were working with the local volunteer fire department to battle the blaze.
But that's nothing compared to what some firefighters have seen on the road.
Unit crew leader Jonas Joe has taken two trips to fight wildfires in Alberta this year.
"The second fire we went to was north of Ft. McMurray: a 700,000-hectare fire," he said. "It was greater than the size of the island of PEI."
Even after a slow season in B.C., firefighters are reminding long-weekend partiers to keep a close eye on their campfires and comply with campfire bans in the Merritt and Lillooet areas.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Kent Molgat
