Wildfire season is officially underway in BC. The season runs from April 1st to October 1st and although there are no current fires of note, 10 small ones are considered active and the wildfire service says two were sparked yesterday. BC residents are being urged to try the new wildfire service app which can send information about wildfires directly to a mobile device. Wildfire service spokeswoman Kyla Fraser says the app is a great resource. Just under 145 square kilometres of timber and bush burned in BC last year, making the 2020 season one of the quietest in more than a decade.

One person has died in an early morning house fire in Surrey, not far from the boundary with Delta. Fire officials say a body was pulled from a basement suite as crews responded to the blaze after flames broke out at around 6 a.m. According to reports the house was located at 117B street and 96 Avenue. The identity of the victim has not been released. A cause of the fire remains under investigation and the name of the victim has not been released.

BC's public safety minister is promising consequences for businesses flouting provincial health orders against indoor dining as COVID-19 cases hit record highs. Mike Farnworth issued the warning after at least two Vancouver restaurants were served with closure notices in keeping with restrictions that will continue at least until April 19th. He says harassment of enforcement officers will not be tolerated and closure orders by Vancouver Coastal Health or any other health authority must be respected. The owner of a Vancouver restaurant that was packed with customers on Saturday when it was ser

RCMP are investigating an unprecedented spate of shootings in Coquitlam, three in the past week. The latest happened late Sunday morning. Officers responding to a shots fired call found a wounded male in the middle of the street. Two other males were wounded in separate shooting incidents on Tuesday and Wednesday. Police believe gang-related activities involving drugs may be connected to the earlier shootings but say the victims are not co-operating with investigators. They're urging the public to come forward if they have information or security footage linked to any of the shootings.

Just weeks after a deadly COVID-19 outbreak ended at a northwestern British Columbia care home, health officials report a new outbreak at the same facility. Northern Health says two residents at Acropolis Manor in Prince Rupert have tested positive for the virus. In a statement issued Sunday, the agency says the two residents live in the facility's west pod and proactive testing is underway to identify if any other residents, staff or families have been infected. Sixteen residents died during a COVID-19 outbreak that began at Acropolis Manor in mid-January and was declared over on March 16. So

BC Ferries has indefinitely cancelled four round-trips, a total of eight sailings, between Tsawwassen and Duke Point in Nanaimo starting tomorrow morning due to mechanical issues with the Queen of New Westminster. It says in a release the cancelled sailings start at 5:15 a.m. from Tsawwassen. BC Ferries says the ship has a problem with a propeller and that the Coastal Inspiration will offer eight daily sailings between the two terminals but customers with reservations on the Queen of New Westminster's cancelled sailings will be contacted regarding the status of their bookings. It's recommendi

Health officials are urging British Columbia residents not to travel outside their community as the province set back-to-back records for the number of new COVID-19 cases recorded in a single day. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix say in a joint statement Saturday that B.C. had 1,072 infections in the last 24 hours, surpassing the previous highest daily total of 1,018 cases a day earlier. Henry and Dix say an easy-to-use provincial booking system for vaccinations is expected to be available starting next week as B.C. runs two parallel streams to ramp up

BC has received more doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and is distributing many of them to pharmacies. Health Minister Adrian Dix says almost 189,000 doses were received yesterday and more are expected next week. The BC Pharmacy Association says supply is being distributed to 375 more pharmacies, bringing the total offering vaccine appointments to 488. Community pharmacies were overwhelmed after the government opened bookings to Lower Mainland residents ages 55 to 65.

Victoria police are looking for a woman in her early 20s who's alleged to have chased a security guard while brandishing a knife. Police say it started yesterday afternoon in a parking lot of Hillside Mall when the security guard approached a couple having a loud argument. When the guard asked the man and woman to leave, police say she pulled out the knife and chased the guard. The pair took off together and now police are searching for the slim, Caucasian woman. Victoria Police on Twitter: UPDATE | The suspect has been identified in an incident at a Victoria mall where a security guard was c