No significant fire behaviour anticipated for the North Peace this weekend: BCWS

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) crews don’t expect any concerning fire activity from any of the wildfires in the North Peace Complex over the weekend.

On Friday, BCWS information officer Forrest Tower said the three smaller fires—Boundary Lake, Cameron River, and Red Creek— are now listed as under control and have shown very limited behaviour due to rain received in the region.

He said there may be some visible smoke from the three smaller fires within their perimeter, but BCWS isn’t expecting any growth, movement, or changes in size.

As of Friday, the Boundary Lake fire is estimated at 6,171 hectares, Cameron River is at 385 hectares, and Red Creek remains at 2,947 hectares, according to the BCWS.

Tower stated that crews working on the Stoddart Creek Fire, now listed at 29,222 hectares, are now in the mop-up and patrol phase, adding that the blaze is still classified as being held and isn’t expected to grow further, even with warmer temperatures and potential wind in the forecast.

“There might be a bit more wind coming this weekend and hotter and dryer conditions. So, this will be our chance to ensure that we don’t have any areas of concern,” Tower said.

“But based on what we have for drone scans and work that the crews are doing right now, it’s looking like nothing is really going to be any concern for challenging containment lines or anything of that nature anymore,” he added.

As of Thursday, there were two helicopters, 14 pieces of heavy equipment, and 28 structure protection personnel responding to the fires in the North Peace Complex.

Tower said in the next week or so, BCWS plans to wind down the number of resources it has on the North Peace Complex, adding that the eventual goal is to demobilize the incident management team and hand management of the North Peace Complex over to the PG Fire Centre.

“With the amount of resources that we have, we’re kind of in a natural downtrend of the firefighters that are deployed here. There will still be continued suppression and response on the fire for a couple of weeks, just given how large it is,” Tower said, referring to the Stoddart Creek fire.

Tower warned residents who are returning home after being on evacuation order and alert to be cautious of post-wildfire hazards, such as downed power lines and “danger trees.”

“Trees that may have had their root systems burnt might still be standing up. With any wind, especially this weekend—we are expecting some medium-strength winds coming through—it can knock trees over,” Tower explained.

He added residents should be cautious when they’re in areas there has been a wildfire, watch for crews working, and look out for washouts in the area due to the amount of rain received in the region.

Fires in the Donnie Creek Complex, which includes the Donnie Creek, Muskwa River, and Klua Lakes wildfires, continue to show no significant growth, according to Bryan Zandberg with the BCWS.

Zandberg said crews working on the fires are feeling confident but remain vigilant going into the weekend due to the hot, dry and windy conditions forecasted, adding that personnel saw an uptick in fire activity Friday afternoon.

“Conditions are sort of getting a bit more complex now with what we have currently. We’re seeing a bit of an uptick in terms of fire activity on the line today and might see some more of that this weekend as well,” Zandberg stated.

He said an upper ridge is forming in the area, bringing with it warm, dry conditions and low humidity, which may continue to cause increased fire behaviour.

He added that conditions are warming up and drying out, but at the same time, vegetation is “greening up.”

“It’s getting a little bit crunchy now when you walk through the bush, but we’re getting a lot of grass growing. Ferns, horsetail and all kinds of green coming up, which is fantastic,” Zandberg stated.

He said due to the sheer size of the Donnie Creek wildfire, now estimated at 135,991 hectares, BCWS is working on priority areas of the fires, with personnel spread out along its southern flank.

“We’ve been doing a lot of scanning for heat and infrared scanning at night, and we’re using those scans to guide our activities in the daytime in terms of hot-spotting and actioning the fire,” Zandberg told Energeticcity.

He added that firefighters have different control lines built around critical areas and plan on building a guard around the fire when they can get near it. Personnel also have contingency lines located further off from the blaze.

Crews continue to try and establish anchor points and guards around the fire while being mindful of safety.

As of Friday, there is 71 BCWS personnel working on the fires in the Donnie Creek Complex, including three helicopters and 17 pieces of equipment.

All three wildfires in the Donnie Creek Complex remain classified as out of control.

The Klua Lakes wildfire is estimated at 26,307 hectares, while the Muskwa River fire is about 6,462 hectares.

For the latest evacuation order and alert information, visit the Peace River Regional District’s website.

For the most up-to-date wildfire information, visit BCWS’ website.