While the Kiskatinaw Wildfire has been held since burning into the community of Kelly Lake, (missing any primary structures, though damaging at least seven other buildings) has been considered held by BC Wildfire and their counterparts in Alberta (after the fire crossed into that province), there are still area restrictions in place for the fire.
The area restrictions replaced the evacuation orders on June 18, and, despite a mostly wet summer, remains in place, though has recently shrunk.
It will remain in place until October 15, or until rescinded.
The closed areas are all east of highway 52, and encompass a number of backroads between the highway and the BC/Alberta boundary.
Notably, the Kelly Lake Road and the community itself is still within the area restriction boundary, though that road is open to travel.
Elsewhere, travel is only allowed if a person is travelling to or from his or her residence; using a highway as defined in the Transportation Act; entering the area as a person acting in an official capacity, or entering the area for an approved purpose of supporting wildfire suppression activities.
The Kiskatinaw Fire has been the only wildfire of note in the area this year. Indeed, as of the writing of this article, the closest wildfire in the province is found just west of Bowron Lake Provincial Park, over 200 km south of town.
However, weather conditions have been hot and dry for the last few weeks, and are expected to remain so into next week.
As August turned to September, 34 new wildfires were reported. Three had grown to at least one hectare, while one grew to about 12 hectares.
Of those fires, none were in the Prince George Fire District.
In total, there are 167 active wildfires as of press time (Tuesday morning). Of those, 63 are considered out of control, 30 (including the Kiskatinaw Wildfire) are considered being held, and the remainder (74) are under control.
The province is just about through a record-breaking, ten day head wave, with temperatures averaging five degrees above normal and daily heat records being broken in many places across the province.
The majority of the new fires have started in the Cariboo, where they have seen major lightning storms (well over 600 strikes recorded between August 31 and September 1).
A shift in the direction of the prevailing winds has left Tumbler Ridge under smoky skies on September 1 for one of the few times so far this summer, bringing up smoke from those fires south and east of town. “Given the unseasonably high temperatures and prolonged drying, the potential for new wildfire starts remains very high,” says BC Wildfire. “Please exercise caution when recreating outdoors.”
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
