Fort St. John sports clubs report minimal damage, delays amid Fish Creek wildfire

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Fort St. John sports clubs in the line of the Fish Creek wildfire have assessed the damage from the fire ripping through their space on Thursday.

The fire, first reported on the afternoon of May 1st, started in Fish Creek Community Park before it headed toward Beatton Park. Residents nearby were tactically evacuated as a result of the fire.

The BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) currently lists the fire at 56 hectares, and it is labelled as ‘out of control’ after its latest update on Friday, May 2nd.

New Totem Archery Club – the outdoor season of which was set to begin with a tournament on May 31st – has a 35-acre space for an outdoor range in Fish Creek Community Forest leased from the City of Fort St. John in 2017.

According to its president, Tim Giesbrecht, the fire affected no structural targets and although the fire did burn bush directly south of the range, he remained optimistic because it had opened up visibility in its 3-D course.

“Normally it’s a pretty thick bush there,” Giesbrecht said. “When we do a 3-D target, you have to have a clear shooting lane. You have to make sure it’s safe and there are no targets behind you.

“You got thick, dense bush cover with lots of downed trees, just because the poplars up and fall, it’s hard to sometimes map out what’s a safe route. With that burnt out, we have much more visibility than what we’ve ever had in that area where we would set up some of our 3-D targets.”

However, Giesbrecht doesn’t think the fire will affect the start of the season.

Fort St. John Links golf course, which is directly south of the Fish Creek Community Forest, opened up for its season barely one week ago, on April 24th.

In a Facebook post, the club wrote “words cannot describe our gratitude for our amazing firefighters who went above and beyond today,” while acknowledging minimal structural damage to the course.

“We unfortunately will need to remain closed short term as we wait to see how the fires progress,” the post concludes. “We are hopeful to be open by the weekend.”
The latest up-to-date information about the Fish Creek wildfire is available through the latest update.