With lack of snow pack and severe drought, a holdover fire was sighted in the Nadina Fire Zone.

Morgan Blois, BC Wildfire Service information officer updated that there鈥檚 a holdover fire at Tekaiziyis Ridge. The fire is burning though 0.009 hectares and it鈥檚 3.5 kilometres south west of Parrott Lake and 50 kilometres southwest of 亚洲天堂 Lake.

The fire is yet to be put out, and it鈥檚 listed as being held. Bolis said that only a portion of the fire is still smouldering.

鈥淲e are doing UAV scanning to detect any remaining heat,鈥� Blois said.

Colleymount Recreation Commission posted in their social media group that they had a flare up of 35 kilometres due to dry conditions.

All open burns larger than a campfire will soon be banned in northeastern B.C., as the province gears up for an early and challenging wildfire season.

Category 2 and 3 fires are set to be prohibited in the Prince George Fire Centre from March 28 until Oct. 15. This includes any blaze that burns beyond a half-metre high by a half-metre wide. It also covers fireworks, sky lanterns, burn barrels of any size and binary exploding targets.

BC Wildfire Service made the announcement on Wednesday (March 20), saying that introducing the ban early is necessary this year to 鈥渉elp prevent human-caused wildfires and protect public safety鈥� amid a high risk of grass fires and ongoing drought conditions.

Last year, Category 2 and 3 fires weren鈥檛 banned throughout the entire Prince George Fire Centre until May 10. Similar prohibitions came into effect for other parts of the province soon after. That wildfire season turned out to be the most severe on record for both B.C. and Canada, the impacts of which are still being felt.

The River Forecast Centre reported that the provincial snowpack is currently 66 percent normal and 34 percent below-normal. Unfortunately, this low snowpack, combined with seasonal runoff forecasts, warm weather predictions, and prolonged dry conditions, will create significant elevated drought hazards for this upcoming spring and summer.

Due to the low snow conditions, this season鈥檚 below-normal spring freshet flood hazard is expected. Their report stated that there鈥檚 four to eight weeks left in the snow build-up season, and current trends indicate that low snowpack conditions will continue.

In B.C., about 90 hold-over or 鈥渮ombie鈥� fires are still actively burning from the 2023 season. And the drought conditions that exacerbated things last summer continue to be a problem.

Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma said the province is preparing earlier than ever this year to tackle drought and wildfires. She said it is possible the province will receive enough precipitation in the coming months to mitigate things, but that officials are expecting that this wildfire season may be 鈥渧ery challenging.鈥�

Beyond early bans on open burning, Ma said that the province may have to introduce temporary water restrictions at times as well.

As of now, 96 active wildfires are burning in B.C. and majority of fires are attributed to lightning, but 13 are believed to have been started by people.

- With files from Jane Skrypnek