Wildfire crews working to contain pair of blazes in the Omineca region

Over one-third of all wildfires in BC continue to burn in the Prince George Fire Centre.

(As of noon today (Monday), there are 308 province-wide, with 126 in the P.G. region, two of which are located in the Omineca.

The Big Creek Wildfire, which is over 47-thousand hectares in size, near the Omineca River continues to burn.

Fire Information Officer, Karley Desrosiers told Vista Radio crews are focusing on the southern flank of the blaze.

“Crews are working in there to build a guard around the south flank in the Germansen Landing area. We have helicopters bucketing as much as they can based on visibility but based on the smoke, visibility has been quite challenging.”

“We are seeing unsettled weather patterns, which has led to increased fire patterns in the afternoon – it has been quite smoky here over the weekend and that helps mitigate the fire activity we would have otherwise had if the smoke wasn’t present.”

44 people are battling the Big Creek blaze along with 13 pieces of heavy equipment.

In addition, the Nation River wildfire near Mackenzie is 13,801 hectares in size.

Desrosiers added fire suppression efforts are continuing.

“We have crews focused in the southeast corner as they are establishing a big box guard to the south tying into road systems and the Nation River has been the anchor point.”

“We are seeing some lighting in the area but not as much as the VanJam or the Fort Nelson zones. We are seeing some lightning in the northern regions of the zone primarily but around Mackenzie as well. We are supporting the zone with initial attacks.”

89 fire personnel and 20 pieces of heavy equipment are working on the Nation River blaze.

Desrosiers added warmer temperatures and little precipitation are in the forecast for much of the week.

There are seven wildfires of note in the Prince George Fire Centre – this includes Nation River, Big Creek, Gatcho Lake Cluster, Donnie Creek, Tsah Creek, Tatin Lake and Finger Lake.