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FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Wildfires in the Peace region have exhibited minimal fire behaviour after the rainfall earlier in the week, according to BC Wildfire Service (BCWS).
The North Peace Complex, including the Stoddart Creek, Red Creek, Cameron River and Boundary Lake wildfires, received more precipitation Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning.
According to BCWS, parts of the fires received between 30 to 70 millimetres of rain
BCWS says that while parts of the Stoddart Creek wildfire exhibit minimal to no fire behaviour, some areas with more fuel are still smouldering and burning.
The rain didn’t put out the fire, but it allowed crews on the ground to get closer and extinguish any hot spots.
The Cameron River and Boundary Lake wildfires are now considered under control, and the Stoddart Creek and Red Creek wildfires are being held.
BCWS isn’t expecting any significant growth going forward.
The Stoddart Creek wildfire is 29,327 hectares, the Red Creek fire is 2,947 hectares, the Boundary Lake wildfire is 6,171 hectares, and the Cameron River wildfire is 385 hectares.
The Donnie Creek complex, including the Donnie Creek, Klua Lakes and Muskwa River wildfires, saw little growth over the past 24 hours.
The Donnie Creek wildfire is still out of control at 135,991 hectares. The size increase is due to BCWS’s ability to do more accurate mapping.
Three helicopters, an incident management team, 82 wildfire service personnel and 14 pieces of heavy equipment are assigned to the Donnie Creek complex.
On Wednesday, BCWS says crews will be using multiple methods with support from heavy equipment to protect values and industrial assets in the area of the Donnie Creek wildfire.
Aerial resources will assess road conditions and transport personnel to and from the fire as the road conditions improve in the coming days.
Warmer weather is expected in the coming days to improve the roads, but it will also dry some of the fuels of the fires in the Donnie Creek Complex, causing more open flame as the ground dries.
The Klua Lakes wildfire is still out of control at 26,307 hectares, and the Muskwa River wildfire is out of control at 6,462 hectares.
Aerial resources will be utilized to map the fires, monitor growth and watch for heat sources within the fires’ perimeter.
There are approximately 13 wildfires in the Peace region.
Smoke in the region is also expected to dissipate even with the smouldering and burning remaining, and it isn’t likely to reach the point it did over the past couple of weeks.
Winds in the region reportedly returned to standard directions, which won’t push the smoke toward Fort St. John again unless there is another wind shift.
The air quality in Fort St. John is currently a low risk, and the special air quality statement was removed Wednesday morning.
Evacuation orders in the region have been removed, while some alerts remain. For the latest evacuation order and alert information, visit the Peace River Regional District’s website.
For the latest wildfire information, visit BCWS’ website.
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