Red Deer Creek Fire Forces Work Camp Evacuations
Tuesday, July 8, 2014 @ 4:15 PM
Red Deer Creek Fire, image courtesy BC Wildfire Management Branch
Prince George, B.C. – High winds and hot and dry weather conditions are expected to expand the Red Deer Creek wildfire, which is burning 61 kilometers southeast of Tumbler Ridge.
This lightning-caused wildfire is now estimated at 650 hectares and is displaying aggressive fire behaviour. An evacuation order is in effect for two oil and gas work camps in the area.
Over 70 Wildfire Management Branch personnel are working on this fire, including:
- three Unit Crews of 20 persons each that can remain self sufficient in the field for up to 72 hours,
- a Type 2 Incident Management Team composed of highly trained and specialized personnel from around the province who manage complex and hazardous fires
- Helicopters and airtankers are assisting ground crews.
The Prince George Fire Centre has responded to 130 wildfires since April 1, 2014. As warm and dry conditions persist throughout the region, the Wildfire Management Branch is urging the public to be extra vigilant with fire use.
Comments
Wildfires are only expected to get worse in Canada with ongoing warming and climate change. Scientists have found there are turning points for economies beyond which fires dramatically increase. This was found based on changes in the Boreale plains where average wildfire sizes tripled in just a few short years. Business as usual isn’t a great idea, but likely the path we’re set on.
A great paper on this is “Understanding Shifts in Wildfire Regimes as Emergent Threshold Phenomena”
http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/662675
That should have read ecozones not economies. Autocorrect.
I got a tinfoil hat for ya.
Strong hot winds up in the Peace country today. I bet this fire spreads quickly. The wind up there is actually hot like a blow drier right now. With a cold front moving into Fort Nelson tonight it will only increase the wind potential.
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