Prince George, B.C. – Firefighters battling two wildfires in the Peace region could be both helped and hindered by the weather over the next 48 hours.  Anticipated rainfall would be a blessing while a possible increase in wind velocity would only serve to fan the flames.

Fire Information Officer Emily Epp says the Beatton Airport Road fire, burning   northwest of Fort St John, was last estimated at 12,000 hectares however that figure will be increasing.  She says “late last night we did see some significant growth to the north so we’re working on getting that (the latest updated figure).  The fire, at its closest point, is 45 kilometres from the city of Fort St John and the city is not under evacuation order or alert, or threatened.”

She says Friday afternoon saw growth of the fire to the east “and then later in the evening we got some gusty winds and the fire started moving towards the north, but throughout the day the fire was not moving toward Fort St John.”

Epp says “currently we have 129 firefighters, 10 helicopters and 16 pieces of heavy equipment working on the fire.  We have additional resources coming to the incident and we have been working on the fire 24/7.”  She says the incoming extra resources are B.C. Wildfire crews as well as contract crews from other parts of BC.

The Wildfire Service website originally had the Beatton Airport Road fire listed as 85% contained.  Epp says “that number has been out of date for a couple of days since the two fires (Beatton and Stoddart) merged into the big Beatton Airport Road fire on Thursday.  We’re doing a complete reassessment to determine what the actual percentage of containment is.”

Officials have determined that the fire was human caused, although the matter remains under investigation.

At last estimate the Siphon Creek fire, which is located to the northeast of Fort St John and has crossed over the border into Alberta, was 24,000 hectares in size.  Epp says “due to wind gusts Friday afternoon and throughout the evening the fire continued to expand north and northeast, so we know it is larger than that at this point in time.  The majority of the growth Friday was in Alberta.”

There are 81 firefighters, 12 helicopters and 12 pieces of heavy equipment working on the fire.  Epp says “we don’t have a percentage of containment yet, there is an evacuation order and alert for that incident, and we’ve set up structure protection sprinklers on the structures in the evacuation order area.”  Those structures, residences and outbuildings, are located in rural areas.

Epp says there is possibly some good news on the horizon.  “There is a bit of potential for some rain, however we don’t know if the rain will fall on those fires, and we are expecting some windy conditions this afternoon.  The outlook for the fires will really depend on whether they see any of that forecasted precipitation.”

“We have forecasted more rain for Sunday as well, and hopefully that will give the crews a chance to continue to make progress on the fires.

Epp says there are seven fires of note in the Peace region.  “The two incidents east of Fort St John, the Clearview fire and the Voight Creek fire, are one hundred percent contained and no longer have the evacuation alerts.  The Doig River fire is 90% contained and the Peace River Regional District and the Doig River First Nation rescinded their evacuation alerts for that this morning.”

“The other two fires of note are near Hudson’s Hope and we have crews making good progress on those.  One is 50% contained and the other is 100% contained.  There is no threat to Hudson’s Hope, we just have as fires of note so the community can stay informed on their progress.”