A lightning storm on Friday afternoon caused three small wildfires that are currently burning in Strathcona Park, according to the Coastal Fire Centre.
One fire, measuring about 0.4 hectares – less than half a rugby field – remains out of control, said Dorthe Jakobsen, a spokesperson for the Coastal Fire Centre. Two smaller fires are both under control, she said.
“They grew a little bit on Saturday afternoon,” said Jakobsen. “They’re still very small.”
One of those wildfires measures about a third of a hectare, and another is a “spot fire” measuring a fraction of a hectare, she said.
Three initial attack crews and three helicopters were fighting the wildfires during the weekend, said Jakobsen.
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| A map from the BC Wildfire Service shows the location of a small wildfire that remains out of control near the Myra Falls mine in Strathcona Park. Two smaller fires in the area are under control, according to the Coastal Fire Centre. |
By Monday there were two helicopters and two fire crews at the scene, she said.
“Some of the crews have been overnighting, some of the crews have been working late,” she said. “That’s why two of them are under control and the third one is probably getting near to that as well.”
The wildfires followed a lightning storm on Friday afternoon. Jakobsen said the number of fires caused by lightning is normal for this time of year.
“We’re right in line with the 10-year average for lightning-caused fires,” she said.
All of the wildfires are within about 2-4 km of the Nyrstar mine at Myra Falls, an underground mine in the middle of Strathcona Provincial Park.
The small wildfires pose no threat to the mine’s operations, said Jakobsen. She added that the fires are in the mountains, while the mine is in the valley.
She stressed the importance of complying with a ban on open burning that’s in effect across the Island. The only exception to that ban is the “fog zone” on the western edge of the Island.
“The conditions are going from high to extreme fire danger rating,” said Jakobsen. “We ask the pubic to please be careful and respect our prohibitions in place.”
She urged members of the public to report any signs of wildfires to the BC Wildfire Service.
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| Martin Macdonald, an electrician working at Myra Falls, captured this photo of smoke rising from a wildfire near the mine on Friday. |
Meanwhile, the Coastal Fire Centre attributed a smokey haze on parts of Vancouver Island to wildfires burning on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
Atmospheric flows are reportedly carrying smoke from wildfires in Russia to the coast of B.C., said Jakobsen.
“Our weather expert says that haze is coming from wildfires burning in Siberia,” she said. “It’s coming down from the north, so it swings along the Coast and Vancouver Island.”
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