While the wildfires may have been "sleeping" last week with a reprieve of cool temperatures, a return of warm weather has breathed new life into them, with the largest growth occurring on the Siphon Creek wildfire.
Click here for a map of wildfires in British Columbia.
Located north of the city and approximately four kilometres south of the Doig River First Nations community, the Siphon Creek wildfire, which crosses over into Alberta, has grown 14,000 hectares on the B.C. side since Friday, May 13, according to Erin Catherall, fire information officer with the BC Wildfire Service.
The fire now spans an estimated 75,400 hectares all told, with 56,200 hectares burning in B.C. and 19,200 hectares in Alberta. An evacuation alert is in effect for the Siphon Creek area.
While containment was once listed at 30 per cent for the B.C. side, the Siphon Creek wildfire is now only 25 per cent due to the new growth, which occurred on the northwestern and eastern flanks.
“We have seen growth over the last three days,” said Catherall. But, thankfully, not as much as was expected with Monday’s strong winds.
“We were anticipating extreme fire behaviour Monday, but despite the strong winds, fire growth was not as significant as initially anticipated, which was definitely good and aided with suppression efforts,” she said.
Cooler temperatures and precipitation are in the forecast for later this week, which will also help.
Until then, if conditions are favourable, crews will continue with planned burnoff operations to “eliminate pockets of fuel,” Catherall said.“We have 15 pieces of heavy equipment, and they’re working on establishing containment lines in the areas of new growth over the weekend and yesterday,” she explained.
The Beatton Airport Road wildfire has also grown, although not significantly. An evacuation order and evacuation alert are in effect.
An updated hectare estimate is not yet available, according to Ellie Dupont, fire information officer for the Beatton fire.
“They’re going to be remapping it. They have built containment lines around the new areas, they did that overnight (Monday night), for the first initial growth, so once that’s all in ink, I guess they’ll do a new map,” she said.
While Monday’s windy conditions could have fanned the flames, smoke from the Halfway River wildfire stifled the fire’s activity.
“We had a really good day yesterday (Monday) because the Halfway River fire clouded out the Beatton Road, and so the behaviour went way down,” she said.
The only downside was that crews weren’t able to fly helicopters overhead, but “there was a lot of work done there,” said Dupont.
Most of the planned burnoffs for the Beatton Airport Road wildfire have already been completed, with crews now focusing on the smaller areas that didn’t burn – “just to make sure the containment areas are large enough to contain the fire," Dupont said.
The travelling public should check drivebc.ca for up-to-date road conditions.
Within the fire areas, drivers should use their headlights to improve visibility in the smoke, and make sure they drive cautiously, watching out for other vehicles and people.
The Halfway River wildfire, about 30 kilometres northeast of Hudson’s Hope, now sits at an estimated 5,000 hectares, up from 1,434 hectares that was reported on May 12.
Over the weekend, due to heavy smoke, crews weren’t able to fly overhead for an accurate mapping size, according to fire officer Amanda Reynolds.
A planned ignition for the south flank of the fire was conducted on Monday, May 16, which was “really successful,” she said.
“They’re hoping today (Tuesday), weather dependent, but the weather seems favourable today as well, they’re going to do a planned ignition on the west and the north flanks.”
The fire is estimated to be about 50 per cent contained.
The Carter Road wildfire, 10 kilometres northwest from Hudson’s Hope, remains at 510 hectares, and is 95 per cent contained.
All heavy equipment that was working to contain this wildfire has been demobilized, according to Reynolds.
“It’s a good sign,” she said.
