The BC Wildfire Service has classified two more East Kootenay blazes as wildfires of note.
The Cummings Creek fire near Sparwood is at 43 hectares, that fire is burning in steep, inoperable terrain and its not safe for crews to work on suppression operations or build containment lines.
The fire is about 5 km west of the community, it was sparked by lightning on August 3.
View a statement about the Cummings Creek fire from the BC Wildfire Service below:
Status: Active
Wildfire behaviour:
• More aggressive fire behaviour was witnessed today within the perimeter.
• The fire is continuing to burn in extremely steep, inoperable terrain where it is unsafe for crews or equipment to work on suppression operations or build containment lines.
• The access to the fire is limited, partly because of steep terrain and partly due to the smoky conditions that limit air access.
• BC Wildfire Service will be working closely with the local fire departments and the Regional District to assess response efforts.
Operations:
• Operations staff are observing the fire daily for ongoing data gathering and to determine the response strategy for the best chance of success.
• BC Wildfire Service will be working closely with the local fire departments and the Regional District to assess response efforts.
• The BC Wildfire Structure Protection Specialist was working closely today with the Sparwood Fire Chief.
• The Incident Management Team assigned to the Connell Ridge (N10989) wildfire and the Weasel Creek wildfire (N11062) has taken over control of the Cummings Creek wildfire and resources will be shared between the three incidents as required.
• Due to the relative inaccessibility of water sources suitable for helicopter bucketing and the inability for crews to support on the ground suppression currently, it would not be effective at this time to attempt bucketing suppression efforts.
The RDEK has planned a public information session to discuss the Cummings Creek fire at the Sparwood Recreation & Leisure Centre at 8:00 pm Tuesday, August 9.
Additionally, the Weasel Creek fire east of Roosville has also been added to the BC Wildfire Service’s wildfires of note list.
The fire crossed into Canada from Montana last week and has grown to over 900 hectares, it is burning at 482 hectares on the Canadian side of the border.
BC Wildfire Service personnel are collaborating with US firefighters to work on tackling the blaze.
Find a statement from the BC Wildfire Service on the Weasel Creek fire below:
Wildfire behaviour:
• The fire crossed the Canada–United States border on the afternoon of August 4, 2022 and is currently burning into the Flathead Valley, two kilometres west of Frozen Lake and 39 kilometres southeast of Baynes Lake. The fire was initially discovered in the United States on July 30, 2022
• Approximately 482 of the total 965 hectares is burning on the Canadian side of the border.
• The size of the wildfire has changed slightly upon further coordination and more accurate mapping being provided to us from the United States Incident Management Team. There was some overall growth on the Weasel Creek wildfire today, however the Infrared Scan completed by the US IMT last night has provided us a more accurate map of the portion of the fire burning within Canada.
Operations:
• The Incident Management Team assigned to the Connell Ridge (N10989) wildfire, approximately 15 km south of Cranbrook, is collaboratively working with the assigned Incident Management Team from the United States on our respective side of the border to establish a response plan.
Meanwhile, the Connell Ridge fire continues to burn at 1,350 hectares about 23 km south of Cranbrook.
That fire was classified as a wildfire of note by the BC Wildfire Service last week, and has prompted an Evacuation Alert for six properties along Gold Creek Forest Service Road – an Area Restriction Order near the fire is also active.
Crews continue to work toward establishing containment lines around the fire, though they are reporting difficulty with terrain in the northeast section of the blaze.
Minor ignitions are planned around the fire’s perimeter when conditions allow.
Find a statement on the Connell Ridge fire below:
Status: Active
Wildfire behaviour:
• Less aggressive fire behavior was observed yesterday because of cooler temperatures. Fire behaviour is expected to increase as temperatures rise over the weekend.
For more information on fire rank: Read more
Operations:
• The north and northeast section of the fire is burning in steep and inoperable terrain.
• Crews and equipment are making good progress on the construction of containment lines around the southeast, south, west, and northwest flanks of the fire.
• Crews will be working on conducting minor ignition operations along the fire perimeter where appropriate.
• Equipment is also working on the north flank of the wildfire to build containment lines.
• The Incident Management Team on Connell Ridge wildfire is also working on the Weasel Creek wildfire (N11062) and the Cummings Creek wildfire (N11051).
Click here to view an interactive map of wildfire activity in BC.
– Article includes statements and files from BC Wildfire Service
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