All three fires that remained out of control in the Tumbler Ridge area have been downgraded to being held after a stint of rain and unseasonably cool weather saw snow in the higher areas around town.
This means that Tentfire Creek is no longer considered a Fire of Note, so the daily updates on the fire are no longer happening.
However, the area restrictions remain in effect for all three until otherwise noted.
The fire ban for the District of Tumbler Ridge also remains in effect. “The District is maintaining a burning restriction within the municipal area until August 31, 2021 unless otherwise rescinded.” says Fire Chief Dustin Curry. This restriction includes campfires and all other restricted activities currently in effect for the Prince George Fire Centre.
The longest burning of the fires—Tentfire Creek—grew to about 3148 ha since it was discovered June 30. That fire saw a few periods of growth during hot, dry periods over summer.
Warm weather and strong winds would stir the fire into activity, and prevailing winds were blowing it towards town, which promoted it to a fire of note for BC Wildfire Service. While it ultimately travelled about 12 km towards town, BCWS was able to hold the fire between the Mast Creek road and the Quintette pits.
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 leading edge of the fire got to within 14 km of town. While the fire managed to get past the guards, crews were able to extinguish that escape before it grew to more than 2 ha.
The Bearhole Lake fire made a major run on August 14 and 15, 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 also saw exponential growth on August 14 and 15, growing to an estimated 6500 ha.
That fire started 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.
The other major fire of concern has been the Hook Creek fire, which basically burned itself out earlier this month. According to Fire Chief 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.
There have been 17 fires within about 100 km of town since April. The newest was human caused, as someone apparently lit a fire near or inside the abandoned Redwillow Open Camp, burning down the main building and about 2.5 ha of the surrounding forest.
Most of the rest of the fires were small, few reaching 1 ha before being extinguished. The exceptions to that were a 10 ha fire near Boulder Lake.
One of the most concerning fires was a 0.7 ha fire that started about 5 km from town on a mountain above the Wolverine Valley and visible from town.
Farther away, the 2542 ha Mt Lemoray Fire put several residences and the Willow Creek Mine site under an evacuation alert, but the rains have also brought that fire under control, too, and it is being held.
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.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.