UPDATE: On Wednesday, June 20, BC Wildfire Service reported that a small forest fire burning on the west side of Harrison Lake was fully under control, and sized at 0.95 hectares.
“Today 10 firefighters will be doing a final mop up by walking the land, looking for smoke or heat, and putting those spots out cold,” the department said in a statement.
Crews were working to contain the fire, located 8.5 kilometres north of the Village of Harrison, on Monday and Tuesday after lake-goers and locals noticed the blaze Monday afternoon.
BC Wildfire Service started getting fire reports in the early afternoon on Monday and responded immediately by dispatching an air tanker group and two helicopters, while a 13-firefighter provincial ground crew made their way to the fire.
At the time, the fire was burning “rank 2” – a low-vigour ground fire that sticks to shrubbery and grass and can smoke heavily, creating the billows visual from the village.
“It wasn’t an aggressive fire in any way,” MacPherson said. “They (were) making really good progress on it (Monday) and (Tuesday).”
Since Monday the fire hadn’t grown or moved in any direction. In fact, it was fairly quiet Tuesday morning – perfect for crews to get in closer and further contain the blaze.
With temperatures rising on Tuesday, it was possible that smoke would again become visible from the village, but MacPherson said that’s not unexpected.
“Fire responds to the temperature of the day and the wind of the day,” she said.
“So typically a fire burns more actively in the afternoon than it does in the morning because the air is cooler and the air is quieter at that time.
“The crews are making really good progress,” she said Tuesday. “They’re getting around the fire. Right now it’s not growing and they anticipate a good product out of today.”
Responsible forestry
Fire crews found sufficient evidence to deem the cause of the fire to be firearm use, said MacPherson.
“Whatever spark happened in that area, we suspect it was from the shell casings that we found,” she said.
“It wasn’t illegal for them to use their firearms, so it’s not that we’re saying don’t use your firearms…but responsible firearms use would involve being careful where you’re shooting.”
The forest dries out in layers, she explained. Trees, with their big roots, take longer to dry out, but the dead grasses, twigs and leaves on the surface of the forest floor can become dry and crispy even after one hot or windy day.
“When it gets to that level, any spark can start a fire,” she said.
“If the people had stayed around a little bit and just watched what was going on, perhaps they would have been able to stop the fire before it grew to this size.”
Jun 20 – 10:28 am: the #BCwildfire located 8.5 km north of #HarrisonHotSprings is now under control. More accurate mapping confirms the size at 0.95 ha. Some have asked how target shooting can cause a fire – please view the poster below for more details: pic.twitter.com/aGFhVYhKRr
— BC Wildfire Service (@BCGovFireInfo) June 20, 2018
