Update August 23, 1200: Well, the rain seems to have worked its magic. Tentfire Creek is no longer considered a fire of note. We assume that as crews are able to assess the fires, the area restrictions will be easing, but they remain in place for now.
Update August 22, 10:00: Last time we had lightning and rain, the lightning won, sparking a bunch of new fires. It’s too soon to tell, and there’s no new fires on the maps but I’m putting my money on the rain this time. I bumped into a firefighter a few days ago who said the previous rain was nice, but not very effective. I’m also putting my money on this rain is having at least some impact on the current fires. All this is speculative, though, as there is no new info. I did add a link to the area restriction story, but that’s not really news.
Update August 20, 10:15: Cool weather and some rain means that there has been little fire activity the last few days. Forecast is cool and rainy over the weekend, with the posibility of lighting on Saturday. Next week is expected to be sunny, but seasonal. Other than that, no new news.
Update August 19, 14:30 No more helicopters on Tentfire, as conditions haven’t been good for flying since the weekend. Other than that, no new info.
Update august 18 14:00: while it smelled like smoke this morning, it is now raining.
Update August 18 12:00: bearhole now estimated at 2769 ha
Update August 17 09:30: After sending the paper to press, went and checked the Wildfire map and Boulder Lake has been removed. So make it five fires in the area. I predict the Redwillow Camp Fire will be removed from the list of active fires before the paper gets back from the press…. Also, no major new fire growth. With rain and single digit temperatures overnight, that was expected.
There are currently six fires burning in the Tumbler Ridge area, according to the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) Fire Map.
Of those, three are out of control, and area restrictions remain in effect for all three.
The closest one remains the Tentfire Creek Fire, which has grown to about 3148 ha in the last few days, up from 2400 ha.
Warm weather and strong winds stirred the fire into activity again, though much of the smoke it has been pumping out comes from a front that developed along its southwestern edge, which is the side farthest away from town.
The main front of the fire has moved into the valley slightly north of the Murray River valley, between Teck’s old Quintette Mine and Conuma’s new mine being developed at Mount Hermann. Crews have been working to force the fire a little farther north, towards the Teck minesite as there is no fuel for the fire to burn there. “The world’s largest fire break,” says one employee.
The leading edge of the fire is now nearly to the Mast Creek Road.
The fire continues to burn in the Murray River valley as well, though crews have been doing some back burning to try and control it. This activity means the fire is moving closer to the Kinuseo Falls Road, and the road is now closed at km 4.
BC Wildfire spend much of July constructing guards on the Tentfire Creek fire, and, on July 30 did a major ignition to reduce the amount of fuel the fire had and force it into a bottleneck between the guards and the mine.
The fire has moved to about 14 km of town, and the prevailing winds have been pushing it almost straight towards Tumbler Ridge. While the fire managed to get past the guards, crews were able to extinguish that fire before it grew to more than 2 ha. Precipitation on Sunday has helped knock it down again.
While there is a chance the fire could jump the guards again, the area that lies between the fire and town has seen lots of disturbance, and the chance of it making it past all the clear cuts, roads and well sites is slim.
Even if it does manage to get through that, it would still have to cross the Murray River and the Highway.
There are 22 firefighters working on the fire.
Over the weekend, the Bearhole Lake fire made a major run, going from “Being held” and at a size of 0.01 ha to 2769 ha. On Friday, August 13, there was no smoke visible from the satellite images. By Sunday, it had grown to nearly as big as the Tentfire Creek fire.
The fire started about 25 km east of town, and prevailing winds have pushed the fire east, away from town towards highway 52E.
The Ridgeline Creek fire, which was discovered on August 8, has seen exponential growth, and as of press time was at an estimated 6500 ha.
BC Wildfire Service is so worried about its potential to grow, the area around the fire has been closed to non-essential travel and visitation. (See story, above.)
The fire is burning near Red Deer Creek, more than 70 km from Tumbler Ridge, but in an area that has seen a number of major wildfires over the last twenty years, and in an area where the fire danger is high and moving towards extreme. However, there appears to have been significant rain in the area on Sunday.
The newest Wildfire (at the time of this writing) was human caused, as someone apparently lit a fire near or inside the abandoned Redwillow Open Camp.
We have yet to hear what damage was done, but the fire is listed at 2.5 ha and is now listed as under control.
Slightly closer to town, the Hook Creek fire has basically burned itself out. According to Fire Chief Dustin Curry, the fire wound up running into the Murray River, so couldn’t advance forward, and was trapped by the rocky topography of the region. While a long stint of hot weather and high winds could cause the fire to flare up, it is currently listed as being held. That fire burned about 258 ha of forest, including the trees above Kinuseo Falls, across from the viewpoint. That fire is about 40 km from Tumbler Ridge in a straight line.
Despite the fire not currently being active, Monkman Park remains closed.
Two small fires started near Gwillim Lake after a dramatic thunderstorm blew through the region on August 5. Both have now been removed from the Fire Map, meaning they are considered out. Those fires were 40 km from town, north of Highway 29 to Chetwynd.
Also north of Tumbler Ridge, about 50 km from town and farther west, the 10 ha fire near Boulder Lake has seen no significant change in the last few weeks. It is still 10 ha, and is now considered under control.
The other fires that have started in the area, including a fire that started about 5 km from town on a mountain above the Wolverine Valley, are now considered out.
There have been 17 fires within about 100 km of town since April.
Farther away, the Mt Lemoray Fire has put several residences and the Willow Creek Mine site under an evacuation alert.
Provincially, there have been 1,539 fires so far this year. 862,992 ha of area has burned, and while most of the fires are out, there are still 268 actively burning.
The weather forecast for the next few days should see seasonal temperatures, and some precipitation with more expected by the weekend.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
