Two more forest fires were spotted burning in the Boundary Thursday.
One spot fire is burning at the northeast edge of Gilpin Grasslands Provincial Park, approximately 4.5 kilometres west of Christina Lake; the other measures an estimated 0.6 hectares and is burning approximately 1.5 kilometres east of Greenwood, just off Phoenix Road.
Greenwood residents were alerted to a fire around 3 p.m. Thursday, when they saw water bomber planes fly over the city. By 4 p.m., the two air tankers “completed their objective,”and two helicopters that were dispatched to the blaze. An initial attack crew of three firefighters was also on-scene, with more crews headed to the site. The Greenwood Fire Department is also assisting the suppression effort.
Meanwhile, the Steward Creek fire near Christina Lake had been cooled off by a helicopter dumping buckets of water on it by mid-afternoon Thursday and a team of four firefighters had begun to attack it from the ground. The fire was spotted during an airplane patrol of the region earlier Thursday after lightning had moved through the area.
A spokesperson for the Southeast Fire Centre told this newspaper that lightning is the suspected cause for both fires.
