There were 42 fires on Vancouver Island as of Sunday afternoon, including more than a dozen new ones.
At least 13 wildfire starts were discovered on Sunday after a lightning storm passed over Vancouver Island.
There were 42 fires on the B.C. Wildfire Service map for Vancouver Island as of Sunday 4 p.m.
Two small fires near Elkhorn Creek, west of Cassidy, were among the first to be reported on Sunday and both are estimated at about 90 square metres by the B.C. Wildfire Service.
Most of the new starts were concentrated in the south Island, with several discovered along the Pacific Marine Road between Lake Cowichan and Port Renfrew.
Environment Canada issued a thunderstorm warning for parts of the South Island on Saturday evening as a weather system moved up from Washington state.
Residents from Nanaimo to Victoria saw lightning through much of the evening as heavy rain buffeted the coasts.
Photographer TJ Watt, who was out on Saturday night taking weather photos, called it a “storm of a century.”
Much of the province faced a subtropical weather system on Saturday, which resulted in more than 7,000 recorded lighting strikes across B.C.
Sixty new fires were discovered between noon Saturday and noon Sunday.
B.C. Wildfire Service said its crews were prepared for the weather system and many of the new starts are already being held or have been brought under control.
“Fortunately, many of the areas affected by lightning also received good precipitation, helping to decrease fire behaviour and the likelihood of new starts,” it said in an update posted on Sunday.
However, more fires may be discovered over the next week as holdover fires begin to emerge from the forests.
Holdover fires are caused by lightning that smoulder undetected until hotter, drier and windier conditions lead to more visible smoke, the B.C. Wildfire Service says.
Data from the B.C. Wildfire Service’s Coastal division indicated that of the wildfires burning on the Island, 14 were considered out of control, 16 were being held and 12 were rated as under control.