The B.C. Wildfire Service says the province is facing fewer active wildfires this year compared with last season at this time, but a forecast of thunderstorms and lighting will “certainly” cause more blazes.

Wildfire information officer Taylor Colman says this year is off to a “cooler and wetter start” in the Interior, but northeastern B.C. continues to be a yearly hot spot for wildfire activity.

Colman says the province has seen “relatively normal” summer weather patterns with a few days of warm and dry conditions tapered by brief cool-down periods, but long-range forecasts can’t predict expected summer heat.

The wildfire service says strong winds across B.C. are expected later Tuesday, with up to 60-kilometre gusts in some locations near the Rockies.

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It says there are more than 70 active wildfires burning in the province, with 19 classified as out of control, but Forests Minister Ravi Parmar says 13 blazes were declared out in the last 24 hours.

The Izman Creek wildfire burning near Lytton is the only wildfire of note and remains out of control after being sparked on July 1 when a tire fell off an RCMP trailer, lighting dry grass in a roadside ditch.

“It’s hard to imagine that almost four years to the day after the town of Lytton was nearly destroyed, that the community would yet again be facing the threat of wildfire,” Parmar said at a wildfire update in Fort St. John on Tuesday. “It’s a tough time for that community.”