The continuation of warm, dry conditions and increasing winds made for a challenging day for BC Wildfire Service personnel in the Quesnel Fire Zone…but there is some good news.
Fire Information Officer Troy Gersback said the Townsend Creek wildfire southwest of Quesnel is behaving well.
“We are seeing a little bit of activity but that is being attributed to some internal areas well within the perimeter that’s currently burning out. We don’t envision that fire size to increase any further and we are looking forward to hopefully be bringing that back to be held.”
There was some increased activity on the southeast and northeastern corners of the Teepee Lake wildfire in the Nazko region which Gersback noted was due to winds and dry conditions.
“We do have a number of firefighters on the ground and structure protection in place and they’re being supported by heavy equipment to develop new guards and consolidate existing guards to ensure that we can keep that fire the way we would like it to be, in particularly the northern section of the fire is holding well we do have a very good guard in place there at the moment and there is very limited activity on the southwest of that fire.”
Gersback said structure protection units are in place with the support of heavy equipment to make sure the appropriate guards are being established at the Pelican Lake wildfire east of Titetown to reduce the threat to private property and First Nations Land.
And there is a perimeter around the Branch Road fire west of Quesnel with fire crews engaged in mop up and patrol operations.
In the Chilcotin region, Jessica Mack, Fire Information Officer, says Anahim Peak saw an increase in wildfire behaviour due to the warmer temperatures, and saw growth on the north and north east side of the fire.
Crews did have to be pulled back for safety concerns, and crews reestablished control lines on the northern front, along with conducting structure protection in the area.
She says the Young Creek wildfire, 35 kilometres west of Anahim Lake, also saw growth, closing Highway 20 in both directions
RCMP is at both of the closure locations at the top and bottom of the Bella Coola hill.
For the Gatcho Lake fire, Mack says crews are continuing to monitor the three incidents in the area through aerial reconnaissance.
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