While the wildfire season appears to be off to an early start at least one expert is saying there is no guarantee we won’t see another historic fire season this year.

University of Alberta Wildland Fire Science Professor Mike Flannigan says it would be highly unusual to have a third historic fire season in a row but considering climate change he also cannot rule it out.

Flannigan says it will be Mother Nature who ultimately decides.

“I can’t say with any certainty what the coming wildfire season will look like. What I can say is it will depend on the day to day weather during the fire season. Yes we have fires already but this is not completely unusual. After the snow disappears you get some nice warm weather and these are mostly human caused fires because the lightning season is not really upon us yet. The prime season is kind of later in July and August.”

He add it might also be a matter of time before our wildfire season results in tragedy.

Flannigan points to wildfires in California, Greece, and Australia that exploded in size ripping through neighbourhoods and claiming lives.

The question is could something like that ever happen here?

“Some of these places have excellent fire management like California and Australia and so we are not immune. We are good but we have also been fortunate. There is a the potential for catastrophic. We almost saw it in Fort McMurray. Fires are a bit like real estate at times location, location, location.”

Flannigan recommends communities take advantage of the FireSmart program and people can also fireproof their homes by removing any nearby fuels.

There has been 14 wildfire already this year including two big ones between Kamloops and Chase.