Wildfire Update: Wednesday, August 2

Unpredictable winds and extremely dry conditions are creating some volatile fire behavior and challenging firefighting efforts.

“Since April 1 there have been 216 wildfires in the Cariboo Fire Centre that have burned an estimated 350,000 hectares,” said Fire Information Officer Mike McCulley.

“Within in our central command area we have over 500 firefighters currently, 16 helicopters, and 50 pieces of heavy equipment working, and these are supported by air tankers as we need, and we do have more crews arriving daily. These are out of province-provincial and international,” explains McCulley who adds that there is no precipitation in the near future.

Of the 305 structures lost so far including at least 71 homes due to wildfires within British Columbia, 45 of those homes and 111 outbuildings are in the Cariboo Regional District.

 –>In the Central Area Command (Williams Lake):

“These fires combined are approximately the same size of Shuswap Lake and all have some sort of containment around them but are listed as out of control,” says McCulley.

Soda Creek Fire

• Located west side of highway 97, 17 km northwest of the WL Airport
• 251.0 hectares (estimated)
• Evacuation Order is in effect.

White Lake Fire

• Located northwest of Williams Lake (West of the Fraser River)
• 13,128.0 hectares
• Evacuation Order is in effect.

Wildwood Fire

• Located east of Williams Lake from the 150 Mile area to the Wildwood area
• 12,987.0 hectares
• Evacuation Order is in effect
• It is important to stay away from areas where fire suppression activities are occurring to avoid causing unnecessary delays to ongoing operations. Safe firefighting operations are dependant on good communications on the ground and in the air.

Spokin Lake

• Located near Spokin Lake, which is located approximately 20 km east of Williams Lake
• 3,731.0 hectares (estimated)
• Evacuation Order in Effect

—>In the Chilcotin Fire Zone:

Chezacut Wildfire

• Approximately 140 km northwest of Williams Lake
• 12,000.0 hectares
• Evacuation Order in Effect
• Progress has been made along the southern and western containment of the fire by strengthening guards and conducting localized burn out operations.
• The fire continues to burn towards the north east in remote terrain.
• No structures or grazing meadows are under immediate threat. Structural protection crews have been working to establish protection on nearby cabins as a precaution.
• It is expected fire activity will increase in coming days.

Hanceville-Riske Creek

• Located approx. 60 kilometers southwest of Williams Lake
• 134,000.0 hectares (estimated)
• Evacuation Order in Effect
• The large size of this fire continues to have operations direct resources to high priorities in the area. Priorities are life and property. 
• Structural protection crews are assessing properties in the area.

Kleena Kleene Wildfire

• South of Highway 20 primarily along Klinaklini River, approximately 200km west of Williams Lake
• 5,300.0 hectares (estimated)
• Evacuation Order in Effect
• Burn out operations will continue as weather conditions allow.
• Efforts have been focussed on deepening containment by creating a burnt out edge to the containment guard, in order to prevent fire escapes.
• No property is currently under immediate threat.
• Smoke is expected to be visible as pockets of fire burnt out in interior of the burn area.

—>In the Quesnel Area Command:

The BC Wildfire Service says increased aggressive fire behaviors in the areas West of the Nazko River is being seen.

An expanded evacuation alert for the area south and west of Quesnel to Tatelkuz Lake was issued by the Cariboo Regional District Tuesday evening.

4 km North of Baezaeko River and East of Toil Mountain

•  4 Km north of Baezaeko River, approximately 110 km west of Quesnel
• Estimated at 35,980 hectares
• Evacuation Order in Effect
• Crews will be building guard on the northwest side. Crews and machinery will also concentrate on the protecting the eastern flank.
• Evacuation Order and Evacuation Alert in place

Bishop Bluff

• 5 km North of Bishops Bluff, approx 130 km west of Quesnel. 5 km SW of Kluskus
• 2,525.0 hectares
• An evacuation order has been instituted by the Cariboo Regional District for Kluskus First Nation
• 80% contained

Castle Rock/Twan Lake South

• West of Hwy 97 in the Tingley Creek/Soap Lake area northeast of Soda Creek
• 5,875.0 hectares
• Evacuation Orders/Alerts in Effect
• The fire has currently not moved any closer to the Alexandria IR 3 and IR 1.
• Crews continue to make good progress with this fire, but dry weather is creating more fuel in unburnt patches within the perimeter, creating more smoke.
• Tuesday, August 1,  crews experienced a two-hectare growth to the south. With aerial bucketing assistance, crews were able to stop the fire spread. They will continue to secure that perimeter with machine guard where possible.

Green Mountain

• located just west of Dragon Mountain and approximately 25km southeast of Quesnel
• 590.0 hectares (estimated)
• Evacuation Alert in Effect
• Crews are confident with the perimeter of the fire, with the exception of the North West corner. They will continue to focus their efforts in that corner. Crews will identify hot spots and extinguish. An aerial scan of the area is planned in the coming days.
• Firefighters continue to have members of the public driving near the fire ground on a section of
  French Road, which remains CLOSED. RCMP will be patrolling this
  area, so please stay away so our firefighters can do their job.
• Authorities have been notified by members of the public about smoke at the Green Mountain fire ground. This is still an active fire ground so smoke is expected. However, if you notice smoke in other areas please report it by calling 1 -800 663-5555 or *5555 from a cell phone.

Tautri Complex

• located Rosita Lake/Tautri Lake area, approx. 85 km northwest of Williams Lake
• 64,239.0 hectares (estimated)
• Evacuation Order in Effect
• Heavy equipment and crews continue to work on establishing guard on the flanks and tie into pre-existing roads and natural land features. Crews have installed water sources and are continuing to protect structures in the area, secure the perimeter and investigate possible ignition spots.
• The fire has increased in size in the west, north west and south west corners.
• Strategies are being implemented to coordinate this fire growth and protect life and structures in the area.
• In the north and south east there as was some fire activity Tuesday, August 1 but crews were able to contain it to within the perimeter guard using ground and aerial support.
• This fire was previously called the “Maka complex”.

Wentworth Creek

• located just east of the Nazko River approximately 80km northwest of Williams Lake
• 1,811.0 hectares (estimated)
• Evacuation Alerts/Orders in Effect
• An ignition burn earlier in the week has mostly kept the fire from spreading to the north and crews conducted further ignitions to secure this perimeter. A guard on the southern perimeter will provide protection from northerly winds.

West Fraser Road

• Located on the west side of Highway 97, approximately 6km southwest of Australian and 30 km south of Quesnel
• Evacuation alert in Effect
• 100% contained
• All hotspots have been contained and the fire has been aerial scanned. The fire will continue to be monitored over the coming days to ensure it is out.
• Considered to be ‘Under Control.’
• Evacuation alert in Effect

—>In the Kamloops Fire Centre

Elephant Hill Fire

• located near Ashcroft
• 84,442.0 hectares (estimated)
• 30% contained
• Evacuation Alerts/Orders in Effect
• Fire Information Officer Heather Rice says a controlled burn escaped on Tuesday over Highway 97 near Maiden Creek and worked it’s  way up the hillside. Crews were able to action the escape quickly and aggressively. Rice says it is currently remaining at a fairly stable size and that they continue to action it today. She adds that they were also to hold the area around Clinton with some black lighting, which is hand lighting fires, and some fire guarding.
• The winds on July 29th caused the fire to jump the Bonaparte River to the north and also ignited several spot fires in areas previously burned over including the Loon Lake area. Within the fire perimeter there are still pockets of dry fuels that have not burned and these ignite when winds change direction sending embers into the unburned fuels within and outside of the fire perimeter.
• Controlled burning south of Chasm Reserve is planned when weather permits and this will create additional smoke.
• Every effort is being made to protect homes and infrastructure both within and outside the current fire perimeter.
• Over 500 personnel including night shifts are assisting the efforts of 360 firefighters, 20 helicopters, over 60 pieces of heavy equipment, and over 100 structural protection units.