Several wildfires on the South Island were still burning “out of control” on Wednesday evening, including a stubborn blaze near Youbou and another on a ridge above the Sooke Lake Reservoir.
The B.C. Wildfire Service said the Meade Creek Fire, about five kilometres from the Laketown Ranch concert site, has grown to eight hectares and is being fought by 22 crew and three helicopters using water buckets.
Dorthe Jakobsen, spokeswoman for the B.C. Wildfire Service’s Coastal Division, said the terrain is steep and challenging.
Forecasts are calling for cooler temperatures and some precipitation today with heavier rains of between 10 and 20 millimetres on Thursday and Friday.
The service says 17 fires were ignited Sunday on the South Island by lightning strikes that came after an extended heat wave.
The Mount Healey fire near the Sooke Lake Reservoir is now categorized as “being held.” The reservoir is the source of water for Greater Victoria.
Capital Regional District officials said a more accurate survey of the fire has been completed and the total area burned is estimated at six hectares, two less than a previous estimate.
The CRD said based on the current mapping of the fire perimeter, it is estimated that less than 10 per cent of the area burned is in the catchment of Sooke Lake Reservoir.
Some of the Mount Healey fire also burned into private forest land owned by Mosaic Forest Management.
The CRD said ground crews have completed a 20-foot “wet guard” around the fire. “This should prevent further spread and allow the ground crews to continue their efforts on full containment of the fire perimeter,” the regional district said in a statement.
The fire to the north of the reservoir, near Horton Lake, is still deemed “out of control” by the wildfire service. All of the area burned by this fire is within the catchment of the reservoir.
The CRD said despite significant attention from aerial crews, the blaze is not yet fully contained. Its area has been estimated at 2.3 hectares. The site of the fire is more than a kilometre upslope from the nearest road and access is difficult due to rock bluffs with steep slopes.
Ground crews are cutting corridors through the forest for access to the perimeter and to reduce the fire’s spread, the CRD said.
“Given the success of containment efforts, and the presence of considerable provincial staff, some CRD technical and professional staff have been released from the fires to focus on their operational duties,” the CRD statement said. “Watershed Protection is also allocating staff to continuing patrols of the watershed to identify any wildfire or security issues in other areas.”
A fixed-wing aircraft is undertaking two daily overview patrols of the water supply area and adjacent lands.
Two other smaller fires in the Trapp Mountain area north of Sooke — each just over a hectare in size — are also listed as “out of control.”
Small fires near Rheinhart Creek and Rheinhart Ridge, north of Lake Cowichan, also have not been contained.
