The Beatton Airport Rd fire on May 26th – photo courtesy BC Wildfire Service

Prince George, B.C. – Rain in the Peace is giving fire crews there some relief.

Fire information officer Emily Epp with the BC Wildfire Service says the precipitation is assisting on all three fires of note in the region.

“So far today the Siphon Creek fire has already received 10 millimetres of rain and we’re expecting about 10 millimetres more. We’re also expecting that kind of rain over the Beatton Airport Road fire and the Halfway River fire.”

She notes it’s allowed some crews to briefly scale back their operations.

“For the Siphon Creek and the Halfway River fires, crews are remaining on those fires. However, on the Beatton Airport Road fire we have been scaling back with the number of crews.

“This weekend there are eight firefighters and two pieces of heavy equipment working due to the rainy wet conditions – it’s unsafe for crews to be on certain parts of the fire so we’ll have more crews (60 firefighters) returning back to work on Monday.”

Despite the brief reprieve, Epp is quick to note they haven’t loosened their grip on the situation.

“Although some of our crews are leaving these fires we’re making sure that necessary resources are on those fires and increasing the number of contract crews working on those incidents.”

Once under an evacuation order, the 15,739 hectare Beatton Airport Road fire is now 90% contained.

As for the other fires of note the 85,300-hectare Siphon Creek fire is 40% contained and the 5,636-hectare Halfway River fire is 80% contained.