Prince George, B.C. – After a month of extreme weather behaviour, finally some relief for fire crews in northern, British Columbia.

“There is precipitation up in the Peace right now,” says Amanda Reynolds, fire information officer with the Prince George Fire Centre. “We’ve heard reports of snow at the Siphon Creek fire.”

She says the Siphon Creek fire is 85,300 hectares (62,700 hectares on the B.C. side) and the evacuation alert remains in place.

But Reynolds says improved weather conditions have allowed the Peace River Regional District to lift the evacuation order that was previously in effect for the Beatton Airport Road fire.

“And the alert has been readjusted and it essentially now covers six civic addresses and it is essentially around the perimeter of the fire.”

That fire is now estimated at 15,460 hectares and is 65% contained. The only other fire of note in the region, the Halfway River fire 30 km northeast of Hudson’s Hope, is estimated at 5,000 hectares and is 50% contained.

She says the precipitation has been “very helpful” with fire suppression efforts and says the weather outlook is looking quite favourable too.

“The forecast shows there’s going to be precipitation throughout the day today and into tonight and tomorrow.”

And after a brief drying trend over the weekend, Reynolds expects more of the wet stuff next week.

“The forecast for next week is for another low pressure system coming through and more rain.”