Police Launch Little Bobtail Lake Wildfire Investigation
Little Bobtail Lake fire – photo courtesy Wildfire Management Branch
Prince George, B.C. – Police are seeking the public’s help in their investigation of the Little Bobtail Lake wildfire.
The huge blaze, which has grown to more than 24,000 hectares in size and is located just 50km southwest of Prince George, has led to the evacuation of 80 people in the area and put others on Bendnesti and Cluculz Lakes on evacuation alert.
“The origin of the wildfire has been located and at this time is believed to be human caused,” says RCMP Corporal Craig Douglass.
He says the Wildfire Management Branch is assisting police in their investigation.
Anyone with any information is asked to call the Prince George RCMP at 250-561-3300 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
You can also Text-A-Tip to CRIMES (274637) using the keyword “pgtips.”
Comments
They should also be investigating why it took MoF so long to respond after the fire was reported on the Friday. When did equipment and crews finally arrive on the site? Were there any logging contractors in the area that could have responded sooner?
My understanding is forestry responded within 4 hrs of the report which is fairly standard response time and my guess is with the dry conditions the fire would of expanded quickly and forestry responded a needed as to any crews in the Rea loggers are not trained in fire suppression so it is quite possible they would of made things worse if they had tried to fight it. And yes there is a very wrong way and a right way to fight forest fires and training is needed for proper fire suppression
There were logging crews on the fire as well by 0630 on Saturday morning. All logging crews have at least the s100 training to fight fire. What everyone seams to forget is that when the fire decides to move no one is stopping it. The people that are out there do the best job they can to get this under control. Just say thanks and be glad that they are willing to step up for the rest of us.
4 hours is standard Dearth?…Really? Where would you get that statistic?
5 minute response is common for both Air-Tankers and Helicopter Initial Attack Crews…With additional resources such as heavy equipment and larger unit crews also available and on standby.
When a 5 minute response is necessary is in many cases based on science with the help of The Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System, which measures drought codes, fine fuel moisture content and spread indexes.
Was BC Wildfire Management Branch prepared for a 5 minute response for the Little Bobtail, the post fire investigation, should there be one, would reveal that?
Does being prepared to have a 5 minute response cost money?….you bet it does….Is the BC Wildfire Management Branch budgets for preparedness being curtailed? Perhaps those questions need to be answered?
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