By Keith McNeill
Continued hot and dry weather over the long weekend resulted in at least two new forest fires in the Clearwater area, according to BC Wildfire Service’s active wildfires map.
Fire number K22034, which is located near Eakin Creek a few kilometers west of Little Fort, was discovered on Sept. 3. As of Monday it’s size was estimated at 0.1 hectare. It is believed to be person-caused.
Up in Wells Gray Park, fire number K12037 is located near the north end of Clearwater Lake. It also was discovered on Sept. 3. Size is estimated at 0.01 ha and suspected cause is lightning.
Still listed as active is the 3,000 ha Dunn Lake fire (K20706). Date of discovery was July 7 and suspected cause is lightning.
The Gollen Creek fire (K11801) south of Vavenby was discovered July 19. Suspected cause is lightning and estimated size is 4.5 ha.
Also of interest is the South Canim Lake fire, which was discovered on Aug. 12 and which has caused the evacuation of several residences (although they are now under evacuation alert only).
Estimated size is put at 160 ha. Lightning is believed to be the cause. As of Monday, 63 firefighters and seven pieces of heavy equipment were reported to be involved in the control effort.
As reported in another article, the Elephant Hill fire reached Sheridan Lake on Saturday, Sept. 2, which is nearly 90 km from where it began on July 6. The fire is now about 70 km from Clearwater. Its size is estimated to be 187,000 ha.
Resources fighting the Elephant Hill fire are listed as 577 firefighters, 18 helicopters, 100 pieces of heavy equipment as well as numerous structural firefighters working around properties.
