Category Archives: Forest Fires

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

With more hot and dry weather on the way this week the 27 “extreme danger” fires burning in the Southeast Fire Centre region could be on the rise, doubling as they did last week during similar conditions. In all, there are 46 wildfires of note burning in the region, including 16 that are considered high danger, leaving only two fires at moderate danger. One fire burning near Rock Creek is very low danger. Six days ago only 16 fires were considered extreme danger but high temperatures and no precipitation for the third week in a row have created a tinder dry forest undergrowth. …The Southern Interior only received 30 per cent of normal June rainfall … below-average spring precipitation with above seasonal temperatures accelerated the drying of forest fuels “at a rate not previously observed, making them highly susceptible to ignition.”

B.C. wildfire crews continued battling more than 300 blazes Sunday morning, with a significant focus on controlling a 5,000-hectare fire near Ashcroft in the province’s central interior. The blaze near Ashcroft, raging just 8.5 kilometres south of the town, saw firefighters struggling all night to contain an “out of control” wildfire, which has put the municipality of Ashcroft and Ashcroft Indian Band land under evacuation alert. Meanwhile, authorities pleaded Sunday with residents fleeing smoky skies to stay with friends or family, in order to leave hotel rooms free for actual wildfire evacuees with “no other option.” Almost a third of the current 306 active fires are in the Kamloops region, according to provincial data. There are also significant wildfires burning in the Prince George fire region and in the province’s southeast.

A wildfire burning near the community of Ashcroft forced the evacuation of scores of properties on Saturday night, as crews continued to battle more than 300 fires around B.C. The Thompson-Nicola Regional District expanded an evacuation order to include a total of 110 properties due to the Tremont Creek wildfire. …The Village of Ashcroft and Ashcroft Indian Band have issued evacuation alerts due to the fire. The Tremont Creek fire is just one of 37 fires … to be classified as a “wildfire of note” across the province. As of Sunday, 20 evacuation orders and another 51 evacuation alerts were in place due to fires around B.C. …Several fires are burning in the Kamloops area, including the massive 45,000-hectare Sparks Lake fire, forcing nearly 300 people from their homes. …On Friday, Interior Health moved to begin proactively evacuating residents from long-term care and assisted-living facilities in the District of 100 Mile House, moving nearly 120 people.

More than 1,500 properties in B.C.’s Cariboo region are under an evacuation order issued Wednesday because of wildfires in the area, while other fires are threatening the communities of Ashcroft and Cache Creek. The Cariboo Regional District issued an order Wednesday for 1,074 properties in the area from Flat Lake to Green Lake, south of 100 Mile House. Another order covers 482 properties to the east, from Canim Lake to Mahood Lake. … The entire community of 100 Mile House and people in the nearby Horse Lake area are now under evacuation alerts. There are roughly 2,000 people living in 100 Mile. The Horse Lake bulletin covers 3,086 properties. … There are seven wildfires of note burning in the Cariboo region. The largest are around Flat Lake and Canim Lake. … [C]onditions in the region are not expected to improve in the coming days.

The Cutoff Creek wildfire, southwest of Fraser Lake is proving difficult to contain. It is the largest of the seven fires of note within the Prince George Fire Centre at over 10,300 hectares.Fire Information Officer, Alex Lane [says]“Crews are encountering extreme fire behaviour, which is challenging those suppression efforts.” In addition, the Mount Porter, Black Pine, Klawli Lake, and Forres Mountain, which are all west and south of PG are still considered out of control. Klawli Lake’s wildfire is just over six thousand hectares and remains out of control … In addition, the Camsell Lake wildfire, west of Fort Saint James continues to burn out of control at 188 hectares. As a result, the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako in conjunction with the Yekooche First Nation and BC Parks has issued an Evacuation Order.

The Sparks Lake fire remains the largest wildfire in B.C. as the BC Wildfire Service deals with a growing number of blazes across B.C. Fire information officer Hannah Swift said on July 14 that the fire remains estimated at 40,267 hectares in size, though there has been growth that cannot yet be measured due to heavy smoke from the flames. The out of control fire, suspected to be human-caused, was ignited on June 28 about 15 kilometres north of the west end of Kamloops Lake and about 40 kilometres northwest of Kamloops. Since then, the fire has grown in several directions, including southeast toward Frederick, the off-the-grid community of 32 cabins on the north shore of Kamloops Lake, directly across from Tobiano and about 20 kilometres east of Kamloops Airport. Swift said there are 90 firefighters, 10 helicopters and 58 pieces of heavy equipment working the fire, in addition to 109 support personnel …

Fire Information Officer Jessica Mack says the fire is on the east side of Soda Creek Road. “That one is estimated to be about one hectare in size.  Air tankers have actioned that fire and we do have aircraft and personnel that are working to suppress that fire right now.” Mack says there are currently 70 active wildfires within the Cariboo. That total includes 10 in both the Williams Lake and Quesnel fire zones, and 8 in the Chilcotin. Most though, 42, are still within the 100 Mile House fire zone. Mack says they have seen increased fire activity over the past couple of days, even to the point where personnel had to be pulled back on the Big Stick Lake wildfire due to safety concerns. …Mack says the estimated size on that one is about 750 hectares. …The Purdy Lake wildfire, south of Batnuni Lake, is now up to an estimated 2,800 hectares in size.

A new evacuation order has been issued as the largest wildfire in British Columbia continues to challenge efforts to bring it under control.  The B.C. Wildfire Service said the Sparks Lake fire north of Kamloops has burned 402 square kilometres and flames on one of its flanks surged toward control lines Monday. Information officer Taylor Colman with the wildfire service said hot and dry weather conditions are causing concern as firefighters battle the flames.  “So, I think there is potential for it to keep growing,” she said in an interview Tuesday.  The service has 125 firefighters, 10 helicopters and 50 pieces of heavy equipment fighting the fire.  …Premier John Horgan said he has been talking to the prime minister about bringing in the Armed Forces to help clear debris from forest floors to reduce the incidence of fires, which is one of the recommendations following the 2003 wildfires.

It’s dry — really dry —and we haven’t even hit what’s normally the summer drought period on Vancouver Island. “We usually expect dry conditions in summer but not as early as they started this year,” says Environment Canada meteorologist Bobby Sekhon. “Seeing such dry conditions in June and early July is unusual for sure because it’s not usually until later July and into August that we have our driest period.” Greater Victoria and most of eastern Vancouver Island is now at drought Level 4 — that’s higher than the Okanagan — and adverse impacts on fish are now very likely here and in most of Southwestern B.C. …The tinder-dry conditions mean all of Vancouver Island is facing a high or extreme wildfire risk and we’ve already had almost double the number of fires.