Crews Pulled From New Wildfire

By Corey Fischer

Aug 13, 2018 | 12:43 PM

Fire crews are dealing with a new wildfire in the North Okanagan.

It’s in a remote forested areas with high timber value near Devils Creek, 3 kilometres east of the north end of Mabel Lake.

Information officer Kim Weir from the BC Wildfire Service, says it’s about 32 hectares, and not threatening any structures, but it’s in challenging terrain.

“We’ve had really hazardous conditions on the fire, from very large diameter trees burning out and falling continuously, so the incident management team has actually decided to pull resources from this fire, just for their safety.”

Weir says with the rain over the weekend, the three other Monashee complex fires didn’t see any significant growth, and the goal is to increase containment lines before it heats up again.

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“With the little bit of extra moisture and the cooler temperatures, we have a bit of a window to do some extra work. It definitely is leading to decreased wildfire activity, but we’re not expecting that to last.”

Weir says temperatures are expected to heat up as the week goes on, leading to more activity.

The Mabel Creek, Sugar Mountain and Harris Creek fires are still classified as “out of control.”

Weir says the largest local fire is Mabel Creek, east of Mabel Lake, at over 18-hundred hectares.

“We’re still working to establish guards on the west flank of the Mabel Creek fire, just to limit growth towards Mabel lake.”

Weir says less than half a millimetre of rain fell on the south end of the fires, while 12 millimetres dropped on the north end Saturday and Sunday.

The closure of the Mabel Lake Forest Service Road from kilometre 10 to 59 continues.

That’s from just north of the Mabel Lake Provincial Park, to near the Junction of Highway 1.

Kim Weir from the BC Wildfire Service says they’re having a bit of an issue with recreational traffic still using the road.

“It’s a pretty narly road in spots, it gets really, really narrow, and we have crews and heavy equipment travelling along it, so for the safety of the public, and for the people working in wildfire response, we’re asking people to respect that closure.”

by Corey Fischer