Only 1 of 4 wildfires in the Puntzi Creek Complex listed as out of control

There are currently 4 wildfires being actioned by Puntzi Creek Complex personnel in the Chilcotin.

Fire Information Officer Morgan Blois said the Red Brush Fire North of Highway 20 near Tsi Del Del is estimated to be just over 5,400 hectares in size and is listed as being held.

“Crews are working on it hoping to get it to full containment. We have approximately 110 personnel dedicated to that fire . They are currently going direct attack along the fire’s perimetre as well as putting in a hose lay and getting into that patrol and mop up stage.”

The Smokey Lake wildfire North of Tatla Lake is estimated at 7,700 hectares and is also being held.

“Under the current forecast conditions we’re not expecting any significant growth on that,” Blois said, “Similar to the Red Brush fire, crews are doing a combination of direct attack tactics and getting into that patrol and mop up stage.”

Blois noted that BC Wildfire Service has aviation resources that are being shared between these fires that are assisting crews with bucket operations and admin flights to get that bird’s eye view and make sure that we’re fully aware of what’s going on in the landscape.

And the final fire in the Puntzi Creek Complex is the Nuntsi Creek South of Highway 20 that is estimated at just over 5,000 hectares in size and it’s their only fire that is listed as out of control.

“We currently have just over 20 personnel on it and are looking to add more throughout the week to respond to it,” Blois said, “it was originally a pretty dorment, quite fire for a few days then on Saturday we did see an increase in fire behavior due to some pretty gusty intense wind. Since Saturday crews have been able to get into that fire and aviation resources have been used to assist them with suppression efforts by doing bucket operations along the North and Eastern flanks.”

She said they did have heavy equipment working on the East side of the Taseko River and they were opening up some old roads so crews had really good access points if we were to see any further spotting across the river.