Photos above from Thursday night; while the fire has grown, it was mostly just smoking over the weekend.
Monday, July 5 3:30
Cool weather and up to 10 mm of rain over the weekend has brought a number of the fires burning around Tumbler Ridge under control.
The 0.3 ha fire near Boulder Lake appears to have mostly gone out on its own, and is no longer of concern to the BC Wildfire service. Only one of the two small (0.01 ha) fires that were on the map in the Boulder Lake area remains, and it’s status was changed to “Being held”. The fire is about 3 km southeast of the lake. Like all the fires in the region, it is believed it was caused by the lightning storm that blew through our region on June 30 and July 1.
A small fire that was previously reported in the Wolverine Valley has been removed from the map entirely.
That leaves just two active fires in the area.
Crews are still working on the Tentfire Creek fire, off of the Kinuseo Falls Road. First noticed on June 30 at 10 pm, the Tentfire Creek fire has not grown in the past 24 hours and remains at 715 ha.
It is considered a “Fire of Note”. This means, says Fire Chief Dustin Curry, that BC Wildfire has now allocated resources to fighting the fire. A small crew of people and heavy equipment are working to establish fire guards, with aerial support from two helicopters. “Contingency guard has been completed,” says the page for the fire. “Crews and equipment are working to establish a fire guard on the west flank and one on the east flank of the fire. Fire guards are connecting to Murray FSR to utilize existing road infrastructure.”
If the weather is favourable, they may do some planned burns ahead of the fire to reduce the amount of fuel the fire has access to.
The fire has spread in all directions, moving down into the Tentfire Creek valley and across the creek, as well as up the valley, over the top of the ridge and into the Murray Creek Valley. Smoke was rising about 2 km down the valley, though no open flames were spotted.
Cool weather has helped keep the fire under control, but with the weather getting hotter, the fire might start growing again.
The fire is about 22 km from town near Tentfire Creek, off the Kinuseo Falls road, which has been closed to prevent access into Monkman.
It’s one of two fires down towards Kinuseo Falls. The second fire, which is much closer to the falls, started near where Hook Creek and Imperial Creek flow into the Murray River, about 3 km west of Kinuseo. That fire grew from 30 reported ha to 180 reported ha and has moved to within about a km of the falls themselves, but has stayed at 180 ha for the last few days.
The two fires have forced the closure of Monkman Provincial Park, as park officials worry that the Tentfire Creek fire could cut off access to the park. The road entrance into the park boundary is now blocked, and signage has been put up. Anyone entering the park during this time could be charged with Trespassing.
The fires have also caused Rec Sites and Trails to close their infrastructure along the Kinuseo Falls Road.
All the fires are suspected to have started due to lighting.
There are now 207 fires burning across the province, bringing the total number of wildfires this year to 748. And while all the fires in the Tumbler Ridge area were suspected to have started by lightning, that is not the norm; of all the fires across the province this year, only 296 are suspected to have been started by lighting. Nearly half (350) are suspected to have been human caused. For the remaining 102 the cause is undetermined.
“At this time the District of Tumbler Ridge is actively monitoring both situations in collaboration with the BC Wildfire Service and Emergency Management BC and are receiving updated information as becomes available, says Aleen Torraville, Director of Corporate services for the town. “While there is currently no need for alarm, residents are reminded to be prepared to leave quickly during an emergency event as you may not get as much notice as you would hope for.”
The District has activated its Emergency Operations Centre to keep tabs on the fires.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.