So far, northwest B.C. has been largely spared of wildfire activity, freeing up personnel to help fight fires in the southern part of the province.
The Northwest Fire Centre (NWFC) continues to closely monitor the situation in the northwest, but has been able to send multiple crews and personnel to assist other fire centres in the past two weeks.
According to Casda Thomas, communications assistant with the BC Wildfire Service, the four NWFC unit crews, including the Firebird Unit Crew from Terrace has been dispatched to the Kamloops area.
Six of the fire centre’s initial attack crews are working in southern parts of B.C. Three are in the northwest on standby and working on fire suppression and one crew is on rest days. Single resources have also been deployed to incidents in the Kamloops, Southeast and Cariboo Fire Centres.
Initial attack crews are small, usually three people. They will reach the fire by road if possible but can also be helicoptered in. Unit crews consist of 20 people and carry more equipment via truck to the scene of a fire.
Deployments to other fire centres usually last 14 days, with crews then returning home for a mandatory rest period.
“The BC Wildfire Service closely monitors weather conditions and is constantly reassessing the need for resources in all parts of the province,” Thomas said in an email.
“We are carefully balancing the need for additional resources in the south with the need to keep some resources positioned in the northwest to respond to any potential emerging incidents.”
READ MORE: What happens when there is a fire in the northwest?
