Two Australian incident management teams to assist VanJam Fire Complex with abundance of blazes

The majority of the 10 fires of note in the Prince George Fire Centre are located in the VanJam complex according to the BC Wildfire Service.

Across the entire area, 270 fire personnel are on the ground with several pieces of heavy equipment including helicopters.

In addition, two incident management teams from Australia are being deployed to the area to help battle the blazes.

Fire Information Officer, Forrest Tower told Vista Radio conditions have stabilized over the past four days thanks to cooler weather and some rain, which have allowed crews to make progress on the Nithi Mountain and Greer Creek blazes, which are located along the Highway 16 corridor.

“We have machine guards around most of it (both fires) and essentially they are trying to finish that work today and then they will work towards directed back and due some suppression off of those guards and that is a similar story to the fire east of that, which is Greer Creek.”

Currently, the Nithi Mountain wildfire is over 238 hectares in size with 10 helicopters and 46 crew members, and six crew danger tree fallers/assessors assigned to this incident.

Greer Creek, on the other hand, is three thousand hectares burned and has 66 crew members and 10 helicopters assigned.

“We haven’t seen any significant growth in the last couple of days but with this weather incoming, those have a lot of our resources on them right now just to ensure we get as much fire containment before we do have any challenging fire behaviour as we move into next week,” added Tower.

With the smoke finally reduced, crews can finally utilize a more air-based approach.

“We should get a better overhead flight of these fires and perimeter tracks. It’s been really challenging over the last three days as our helicopters haven’t been able to fly at all,” said Tower.

Tower expects the weather to heat up by Wednesday and Thursday, which could spike fire activity.

“It is a large geographic area though. Weather in and around the Vanderhoof area where we are based might not be representative of eighty to ninety kilometres north of where we are managing these fires.”

Province-wide, there are 379 wildfires burning, and nearly half of them (162) are located in the PG Fire Centre.

Here is the full list of the blazes of note in the VanJam Fire Centre:

• Nithi Mountain – 238 hectares in size, 10 helicopters, 46 crew members and six crew danger tree fallers/assessors
• Greer Creek – 3,000 hectares in size, 66 crew members assigned along with 10 helicopters and structure protection personnel are in place.
• Tsah Creek – 501 hectares in size, 34 crew members assigned with 10 helicopters. An incident management team has assumed operational command of the blaze
• Finger Lake – 270.6 hectares in size, 23 crew members along with two danger tree fallers/assessors, ten helicopters and an incident management team are in place.
• Lucas Lake – 517 hectares in size, ten helicopters and an incident management team are currently responding.
• Klawli Lake – 14,582 hectares in size, ten helicopters and an incident management team are overseeing operations.
• Davidson Creek – 3,000 hectares in size, near Artemis Blackgold Mine has 10 helicopters and an incident management team currently.
• Whitefish Lake – 61 hectares in size, 24 crew members, 10 helicopters, an incident management team and structure protection personnel are overseeing operations.
• Gatcho Lake – 911 hectares in size, incident management team and structure protection personnel are in place.