Category Archives: Forest Fires

The Garrison Lake wildfire, 33 kilometres southwest of Princeton, has become much more visible due to the growth in the size of the blaze. Now measured at 3,373 hectares, the fire continues to grow to the south and southeast. According to the Erris Volunteer Fire Association, the growth has slowed over the last three days due to the lack of wind. The blaze is burning at a Rank 2 and 3 in most areas, meaning there are visible open flames that are spreading at a slow rate of speed. There is some Rank 5 intensity burning toward the north, where the fire is creating short aerial bursts through the forest canopy and grey or black smoke. Crews from Metchosin and Sooke have arrived to support local firefighters.

B.C. wildfire crews are taking action to contain 250 forest fires as of Tuesday, down from 277 this time last week. The latest statistics from the B.C. Wildfire Service show 61 evacuation orders in place as of the evening of July 26, up three from Sunday. Properties on evacuation order total 3,713, down by 547 as ground crews and aircraft work to contain fires that threaten homes. After winds fanned flames across the B.C. Interior in recent days, there are 85 areas under evacuation alert. The number of properties on evacuation alert stood at 18,234, up 550 from Sunday. Emergency Management B.C.s central region, including the Cariboo and Okanagan, has 48 of the evacuation orders and 55 of the alerts, with a further eight orders and eight alerts in the southeast region.

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This year’s wildfire season has exploded across British Columbia. The provincial government has declared a state of emergency. Hundreds of wildfires are burning and thousands of people are under evacuation order. One of those fires, the Lytton Creek wildfire, made international headlines when it burned the village of Lytton to the ground within hours of starting. That particular fire is still “out of control” and is threatening towns to the north.  To illustrate the recent trend in wildfires and how this explosive wildfire year fits into it, I’ve created a series of charts using B.C.’s official greenhouse gas inventory and the latest wildfire statistics.  This first chart lets you see the wildfire trend over the last three decades. …But, as you can see, wildfires have surged so dramatically that they’ve now overtaken fossil fuels as the province’s major source of climate-destabilizing CO2.

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The cost of fighting wildfires in B.C. so far this year has exceeded the allocated budget for 2021-2022 and has already surpassed the total amount spent fighting fires last year.  More than $206 million has been spent on wildfire suppression since April 1. The allocated budget is $136 million, however, the province has set aside an additional $1 billion to ensure extra resources can be provided.  “The B.C. government will always spend whatever is necessary to protect people and property. When actual costs exceed the direct fire budget allocation, the B.C. Wildfire Service has statutory authorization to spend additional funds,” according to a statement from the Ministry of Forests.  The $1 billion contingency is the largest “forecast allowance” ever in B.C. It can be allocated to other emergencies, including floods and may be shared across ministries.

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The Garrison fire near East Gate, 33 km west of Princeton, has more than doubled in size over the last 24 hours.  According to a BC Wildfire update, as of Tuesday, July 27, the fire is measured at 2,400 hectares.  “The increase in size is due to the fire taking a run to the north in open timber types. Further growth is expected on this fire, which is dependent on the weather, in particular the wind,” the service stated.  On Sunday BC Wildfire measured the blaze at 1,150 hectares. The same day, two large properties were put on evacuation order and another 141 addresses remain on evacuation alert. Just Saturday, July 24, the fire was 450 hectares, compared to 45 hectares on Friday, July 23.  The fire is described as out of control and “interface,” which means it threatens both forest and structures.

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This summer British Columbians are witnessing an unprecedented wildfire season. …the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has been spending more time understanding and preparing for wildfires on our conservation lands. Our staff are responsible for the care and management of 83,353 hectares of natural lands in this province. …NCC has been working for years to clear accumulated forest debris and mountain pine beetle-killed trees on our lands in order to minimize the potential for a spark to grow into a catastrophic, high-intensity wildfire. But sometimes conditions are so extreme that they overwhelm the precautions we have taken. …The Cultus Creek fire currently burning on the Darkwoods Conservation Area is a distressing example of a wildfire that is burning out of control and threatening the very natural values we have been working to protect on that land. …We won’t know the extent of the damage until the fire event is over.

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VANCOUVER — The BC Wildfire Service says there are 258 wildfires currently burning in the province.  That’s down from 275 fires reported in its last update Friday, and down from about 300 earlier in the week.  There are 57 evacuation orders in place, down one from Friday afternoon, affecting nearly 5,000 properties.  Another nearly 16,500 properties, more than 1,000 fewer than the previous day, were on evacuation alert, meaning residents have been told to be ready to leave on short notice.  There are 3,320 firefighters and other personnel working to fight the blazes, including 94 from out of province.

The Thomas Creek wildfire has grown to 6,960 hectares in size and has burned into the area of the 2020 Christie Mountain wildfire, according to a Saturday morning (July 24) update from BC Wildfire Service.  “Fire behaviour is quiet again this morning,” said BC Wildfire, noting that minimal fire growth was observed yesterday.  Although flames have extended into the area of 2020’s Christie Mountain fire, BC Wildfire said this may result in decreased fire behaviour in that area due to a lack of available fuel. The most active part of the fire is on the north flank in a sector containing heavier timber. “Crews and equipment will be working in the Christie Mountain area to create guard lines using existing roads, old fire guards and other natural features,” said BC Wildfire.

166 wildfires continue to burn in Saskatchewan and 15 are still not contained as of Sunday afternoon. While the number of active fires is slightly up from 160 last week, July 18, 2021, the number of uncontained fires is down from 29 last Sunday. 11 wildfires are currently contained, while 177 are being monitored regularly to assess the risk in the area and 23 are active and the focus is on protecting things like infrastructure and cabins, according to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency’s (SPSA) website. Overall there have been 459 wildfires this year, compared to the five-year average of 229.

The Southeast Fire Centre is getting some much needed assistance in battling the many wildfires in the region. During the past few days, the Southeast Fire Centre welcomed some CL-215T water bombers from Alberta to the base at the West Kootenay Regional Airport in Castlegar, bringing help to the local crews fighting Octopus and Michhaud fires in the Fauquier/Edgewood region. Donna McPherson, Fire Information Officer for the Southeast Fire Centre, explains that an airtanker can cover a larger area than a helicopter, but helicopters with buckets can target specific trees. “The purpose of aircraft on any fire is to support ground efforts,” McPherson explaines. “(Aircraft) don’t put fires out. The purpose of them is to drop water on the fire at the direction of the incident commander,” McPherson adds.

The two-hectare fire that started on July 12 on the Cool Creek Forest Service Road, 35 km out of Keremeos, has exploded in size. According to the BC Wildfire dashboard, the Cool Creek fire has gone from two hectares to 175 hectares as of Thursday, July 22. The wildfire has stayed at 2 hectares since it started July 12 until July 21 when it seemed to flare up. The cause of the fire is unknown. In the meantime, the wildfire that closed down Highway 3 between Keremeos and Osoyoos on Wednesday, has been fully brought under control, said BC Wildfire today.

Two small communities nestled along Lower Arrow Lake in B.C.’s Southern Interior are now under evacuation orders. On Wednesday, the Regional District of Central Kootenay (RDCK) expanded its evacuation order because of the Michaud Creek wildfire that’s burning along the west side of the lake. The fire is estimated to be 2,670 hectares in size and is located around 21 kilometres south of Edgewood. According to the BC Wildfire Service, “strong winds are expected to increase well into today and continue to drive aggressive fire behaviour in the interior, southern interior, and southeast region of the province.” The evacuation order now includes the small communities of Edgewood and Needles, and runs north to Whatshan Lake, for a total of 356 properties.

The [Two Mile] fire has doubled in size to 800 hectares. BC Wildfire Service said in an update last night that the growth is due both to better mapping and spreading fire. It remains out of control. BCWS said: “Growth today was in a direction away from Sicamous and crews are making good progress holding the guard at the lower end of the fire despite gusts up to 35 kilometres per hour.” A new evacuation alert was issued by the Columbia Shuswap Regional District late last night affecting Swansea Point. The community on both sides of Hwy 97A north to Sicamous is under alert. CSRD said it was issued “due to the potential danger to life, health or property.” … The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

The wildfire that has displaced cabin and homeowners on Mabel Lake has swollen nearly five times as of Wednesday forcing the closure of the forest service road of the same name. Updated mapping from the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) saw the Bunting Road wildfire grow from 600 hectares early Tuesday to 3,000 by 5 p.m. In a 3:30 p.m. update Wednesday, BCWS said the Mabel Lake Forest Service Road is closed from Kilometre 16 to 40 to protect the safety of the public and personnel responding to the wildfire burning on the Lumby side of the lake… An evacuation order has been issued for those in the 10,000 to 17,000 block of Mabel Lake Forest Service Road… The Bunting Road wildfire is burning out of control, about 41 kilometres northeast of Lumby.

A massive wildfire burning out of control northwest of Kamloops has grown again, but the blaze is no closer to city limits. Mapping updated on Wednesday by the BC Wildfire Service pegs the Sparks Lake fire at about 500 square kilometres — 49,965 hectares. That’s an increase of more than 2,000 hectares from the previous mapping, completed on Monday. The fire’s southeast perimeter is still about 24 kilometres northwest of Kamloops city limits at Tranquille. The BCWS has said most of the fire’s activity has been in the northeast section near Criss Creek and Bonaparte Lake. An evacuation order has been issued for two properties near Bonaparte Lake …

Four First Nations in eastern Manitoba are being evacuated because of smoke from forest fires burning near their communities.  The Red Cross says more than 600 people have already been flown out of Little Grand Rapids and Pauingassi First Nation.  Over the next few days, the remaining populations of those two First Nations will also leave, amounting to another 500-700 evacuees. The communities are located near the Ontario border and are only accessible by plane.  Bloodvein and Berens River First Nations, located farther west along the shores of Lake Winnipeg, have also begun evacuations.  Five hundred people with high health priority have begun leaving those two communities, according to Jason Small, spokesperson with the Canadian Red Cross in Manitoba. 

Jeff Kelly is no weather god but he does have the ability to make it rain.  Kelly owns and operates Safeguard, a Fort St. John-based emergency response company that specializes in cost-effective mass water deployment as a means of dousing wildfires, especially in instances where towns are threatened. The company’s innovative firefighting system utilizes powerful pumps and manifolds that draw vast amounts of water from lakes and rivers to feed high-pressure water cannons which can soak forested areas or buildings.  “We can employ enough water cannons to do a 20-kilometre water curtain that is 200 feet high by 320 feet wide,” said Kelly. “Each system will pump 3,000 feet and we put multiple systems beside each other. In our Fort St. James dispatch (fighting the Shovel Lake fire in 2018) we had seven systems to do a 10-kilometre curtain. Each of these systems will pump 7.6 million gallons of water in 24 hours.

Hundreds of properties …between the Okanagan towns of Oliver and Osoyoos have been evacuated or put on alert because of wildfire. The Nk’Mip Creek wildfire which broke out Monday afternoon and is now mapped at seven square kilometres, is burning on Osoyoos Indian Band land, north of Osoyoos. …An evacuation order has been issued for at least 160 homes by the Osoyoos Indian Band while 21 properties are on alert. The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, which has declared a local state of emergency … has ordered the evacuation of 60 properties and nearly 100 others are on alert, including some areas of Oliver …The state of emergency… gives the minister sweeping powers to make orders without the legislature. …The B.C. Wildfire Service says nearly 3,000 square kilometres have burned in the province this fire season, which is 2,000 square kilometres above the 10-year average for this time of year. …air quality statements in effect across Western Canada