My father used to work managing forest fires. Yes, this looks like a back burn - using up fuel to stop the advancing fire.
But, in the last decade at least, they have NOT been putting out the fires. If residents had not stayed behind, their entire communities would have been lost - First Nations bands in and around Cache Creek, Burns Lake, Monte Lake. The Lytton fire is very suspect and NO ONE is talking.
ALL Ministry of Lands and Forests employees have been gagged, and firefighters won't speak out for fear of reprisal. The provincial Liberals and NDP are different wings of the same globalist bird