Fires Rage Through Northern BC Forests – UPDATE
Euchinika Lakes Fire (photo courtesy Wildfire Management Branch)
Prince George, B.C. – An update on the major wildfires burning within the Prince George Fire Centre.
The Buckhorn Lake fire, 25 kilometres southeast of Prince George, remains at 12 hectares and has been fairly quiet today. It’s classified as a Rank 1, or smouldering surface level, fire. There are 20 contract crews on site who are working to get water around the entire perimeter of the blaze. Fire Information Officer Navi Saini says good progress is being made there.
The Tenakihi Fire, 50 kilometres west of Williston Lake, has grown rapidly from 1,000 hectares yesterday to 4,000 today. And Saini says it is expected to continue to grow rapidly through today. There is a 20-firefighter Unit Crew on that fire along with two pieces of heavy equipment. Saini says work is underway to protect the Tenakihi mainline, and officials are preparing to conduct a thorough check of timber values in that area.
The Red Deer Creek Fire 61 kilometres southeast of Tumbler Ridge has been re-mapped due to the imprecise estimates of the fire’s size because of the heavy smoke cover. That fire is now pegged at 3852 hectares, down from 4,500. 160 firefighters and 83 support staff are on the fire lines there, aided by 12 helicopters and 31 pieces of heavy equipment. The evacuation order issued to three oil and gas camps at the outset of the fire a week ago today remains in effect, with 200 workers affected. Saini says so far, no infrastructure has been damaged byu that fire.
The Euchiniko Fire, which is burning southwest of Prince George, covers 1,200 hectares and is zero percent contained. There are 41 firefighters, 6 helicopters and 8 bulldozers fighting the fire. It has shown significant growth since being discovered Wednesday night at 150 hectares in size. Saini tells us that growth has been due to the high temperatures combined with low relative humidity.
UPDATE:
A new fire has been located in the valley south of Morfee Lake, about 6 kms east of Mackenzie.
The fire is estimated to be about 80 hectares in size and it is burning uphill in an easterly direction. As of this afternoon, there were 8 firefighters, and two pieces of hevay equipment working on this fire. extra resources are on the way.
The terrain is very steep creating extra challenges for firefighters. The fire was caused by lightning.
There is also a fire on Mt Frank Roy. It is estimated to be about 50 hectares in size. The Prince George Fire Centre says it is allowing this fire to burn, but keeping it under observation. This is called a modified repsonse.
Comments
There is a 40 ha fire burning 10 km north of Mackenzie and an 80 ha fire burning 6 km south of Mackenzie.
The question remains is how many retards are going to start fires this week through outright carelessness or stupidity
Wonder how a pipeline or 7 will fair in a fire like these
P Val pipelines are well protected from fires and most piplines are buried at 4-6 feet deep which means you would need sustained burning directly overhead for several days and that is not likely to happen as all pipelines are cleared of brush and trees and ironically enough also act as a fire break.
Dearth. How many fires have been started by humans to date????
Palopu: Waaay too many!
There’s fresh smoke coming over the mountain in the last hour at Francois Lake. I’m at Birch Bay Resort and this is new smoke! We were covered in fly ash this morning from the fires but this is brand new in the last 15 minutes. Its coming from the far (east) side of Francois Lake.
If any of these fires are on First Nations territory,who gets the bill?
The was smoke down hofferkamp road when we were on the way home.
oldcoot@ If you’re referring to the recent court decision, although the principles that it states are important for all non-treaty First Nations, the only land that it actually accorded aboriginal title is in Xeni Gwet’in territory, in the Nemiah Valley. In all other cases, aboriginal title still has to be established.
I’m with “oldcoot” who gets the bill – the natives want the land – why don’t they get out there and fight the fires
000 and old coot, believe me, the natives are fighting fires every year. It’s an extremely hot and frustrating job until the fire is out, one of the many things they and others do to protect our forests, just so you folks can complain on the internet.
These fires, caused by lightening and hot weather have been part of the ecosystem of the forests, and nature will takes its course. Out of 60 Million hectares forest in BC, less than 20,000 hectares are burning now and each year around 10,000 hectares are harvested.
I believe this province could burn all summer. I just wish global warming would happen more in the winter months than the summer months.
I think you are a 0 short on the harvesting. More like 100,000- 200,000 hectares harvested
believe me, I’m a hard worker.
Comments for this article are closed.