A helicopter can be seen among the smoke billowing just above the Sts’ailes FSR fire near Harrison Hot Springs. The fire is listed as under control now, having razed 15 hectares of land between Weaver Lake and Harrison Lake (Contributed Photo/B.C. Wildfire Service)

A helicopter can be seen among the smoke billowing just above the Sts’ailes FSR fire near Harrison Hot Springs. The fire is listed as under control now, having razed 15 hectares of land between Weaver Lake and Harrison Lake (Contributed Photo/B.C. Wildfire Service)

Firefighters bring Sts’ailes FSR fire under control

Blaze held at bay after burning 15 hectares of land

  • Aug. 7, 2020 12:00 a.m.

The Sts’ailes Forest Service Road (FSR) fire is under control.

Approximately five days after it was initially discovered, the B.C. Wildfire Service the human-caused blaze as under control as of Friday (August 7). As of Wednesday (August 5), there were three helicopters, 30 firefighters and one water tender on site to suppress the fire; there was also a sprinkler line planned for particularly steep areas of the burning 15 hectares.

The first night of the fire burned through 1.5 hectares, growing at its fastest rate from Monday to Tuesday at 10 hectares. Growth slowed as Tuesday turned to Thursday with the blaze having burned through 12 hectares, which brings the timeline up to Friday, where the now under-control fire is holding steady at 15 hectares.

RELATED: Sts’ailes FSR Fire ‘being held’ at 12 hectares

RELATED: Sts’ailes FSR wildfire not currently a threat to recreation, other structures

As of Friday morning, there were 28 active fires throughout the province with six igniting in the past two days. Roughly half of the first (46. 4 per cent, to be exact) are lightning-caused while 14.3 per cent of active fires are caused by humans. The remaining 39.3 per cent of fires are listed as “cause unknown.”

On Friday, 57.1 per cent of fires are listed as under control. The Kamloops Fire Centre currently has the most active fires with 11. The Coastal Fire Centre, where the Agassiz-Harrison area is, currently has six.

There are been 364 wildfires throughout the province as of Friday morning. More than 92 per cent of those fires are out.


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Agassiz-Harrison Observer