B.C.'s record fire season is complicating things for the province's ailing forest industry.
Forests Minister Pat Bell says much of the industry has curtailed harvesting to some degree or moved logging to low-risk areas.
Archie MacDonald of the Council of Forest Industries says companies usually factor the fire threat into their logging plans, but with much of the province now rated at extreme fire risk it's harder to shift operations.
However, Bell says he understands mills have sufficient logs on hand to keep running.
Once the fire threat has passed, companies will try to salvage some of the burned timber.
Lumber mills can still get useable wood if trees aren't too deeply charred but it's harder to make pulp chips because there can be no trace of burned wood in the pulp mix.
