One of a series of fires within the Quesnel Lake area resulted in the North Arm of the Lake being evacuated Saturday morning.
Fire Information Officer with BC Wildfire Service, Mike McCulley explains.
“We do know that the fuel types that are in there are very heavy; the trees are large cedar hemlock type and that’s going to provide some challenges for us.”
“With the weather continuing hot and dry and again the timber type is heavy, and the deep fuels we know that the fires are going to continue to grow and hence the recommendation from us for those types of orders.”
McCulley says there are 2 fires crews are seeing to.
He says they are working very closely with industry on the Abbott Creek fire and that crews and equipment are on the ground. Â A structural protection unit meanwhile is on the Grain Creek Fire which forced the evacuation. As of Saturday, August 5 it was listed as 4.00 hectares in size.
A structural protection unit meanwhile is on the Grain Creek Fire which forced the evacuation. As of Saturday, August 5 it was listed as 4.00 hectares in size.
While the cause for both blazes are listed as ‘under investigation’, lightning has been the suspected cause of others within the area.
On July 7 numerous aggressive interface fires started throughout the Cariboo Fire Centre and a number of fires in the Quesnel Lake area.
The BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) has been monitoring these fires continuously, as full suppression in this area was not possible due to the large number of interface fires burning across the Cariboo Fire Centre according to the Cariboo Regional District.
“When an increase in fire behaviour was observed earlier this week, the Office of the Fire Commissioner worked closely with the BC Wildfire Service to deploy structure protection units to structures under immediate threat in the Grain Creek area on the north side of Quesnel Lake,” said the CRD.
To protect public safety, the Cariboo Regional District (CRD) has put a small number of properties in the Grain Creek area under an evacuation order.
“This is to protect property owners from the danger posed directly by wildfire and from the danger posed by large trees immediately surrounding structures in that area,” states the CRD.
“The trees are subject to root system failure due to sustained burning and have the potential to come down on.”
While smoke from fires in the Quesnel Lake area is visible from surrounding areas, public safety and property in other nearby areas, including the Likely area, is not threatened at this time.