Two new wildfires added to Donnie Creek Complex

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Two new wildfires discovered on Monday have been added to the Donnie Creek Complex.

The new fires in the complex are the Beatton River wildfire, at approximately 10 hectares, and the Milligan Hills wildfire, at about 100 hectares. Both are classified as out of control and suspected to be caused by lightning.

The Donnie Creek Complex also consists of Donnie Creek, Klua Lakes, Muskwa River, Zaremba Creek, Fontas River wildfires, and a fire located approximately 135 kilometres north of Fort St. John.

Shaelee Stearns, a fire information officer at the Donnie Creek Complex, said the entire complex received scattered precipitation in the past few days, which reduced some fire activity. 

However, there has been some growth in nearly all of the fires in the complex.

On Wednesday, 63 firefighters, 11 operational field staff, four aircraft, 30 pieces of heavy equipment, and 12 structure protection personnel continue working on the Donnie Creek wildfire.

The Donnie Creek wildfire remains out of control at approximately 582,390 hectares.

The Peace River Regional District rescinded evacuation orders for the Donnie Creek wildfire on June 18th, but some evacuation alerts remain in place. An area restriction is also still in place around the wildfire.

The Muskwa River wildfire is being held at 21,056 hectares; the Klua Lakes wildfire grew to 44,241 hectares; the Zaremba Creek wildfire grew to 14,714 hectares; the Fontas River wildfire is now 18,061 hectares, and the fire 135 kilometres north of Fort St. John grew to 1,030 hectares.

The Tooga Creek wildfire is still around 36,445 hectares, and an evacuation alert remains in place for the area.

The West Kiskatinaw River wildfire is classified as being held at 25,095 hectares, and the Peavine Creek wildfire is under control at 4,427 hectares.

The area restriction around the South Peace Complex was rescinded on July 6th.

The wildfire near Fort Nelson, discovered on June 28th, and the wildfire north of the Muskwa River, discovered on June 22nd, have been extinguished.

There are 36 active wildfires in the Prince George Fire Centre.

As of Monday, all campfires have been banned across the province except on the North Coast island of Haida Gwaii.

The ban applies to the Category 1 campfires, measuring up to 50 centimetres by 50 centimetres, expanding prohibitions already applied to specific regions in B.C. or to larger fires.

Environment Canada reissued a special air quality statement on June 20th for Fort Nelson and the North Peace region. The air quality is at a high risk in Fort St. John in areas with smoke.

The latest information on air quality can be found on the Government of Canada’s website.

For the latest information on evacuation orders and alerts, visit the Peace River Regional District’s, Tumbler Ridge’s and Northern Rockies Regional Municipality’s websites.

For the latest wildfire information, visit BCWS’ website.