The VanJam Fire Zone is once again keeping a close eye on the Greer Creek wildfire after some flare-ups over the August long weekend.
It is one of two fires of note in the area and is 44 hundred hectares in size, located just south of Vanderhoof.
Angela Burford with the Australian Incident Management Team explains what crews encountered over the last few days.
“It did increase in activity and on the southwestern corner it actually breached our containment there as it did cross over the guard but firefighters did a great job. It did take a bit of a run and progressed about a kilometre to the southwest there but firefighters have gone around that.”
“Luckily, there was only one property that was immediately under threat but we did come out of it quite well considering the sorts of pressure these conditions did put on quite a number of fires as we saw late yesterday (Monday) and into today (Tuesday). We have now seen a return to those cooler conditions.”
In addition, Great Beaver Lake wildfire remains at 3,300 hectares in size. Burford explained why it is still a fire of note.
“It’s putting up a significant amount of smoke that was quite visible from a distance away from surrounding areas and we did have quite a bit of want of information for that fire.”
“That fire still does have some activity but is certainly reduced over the last week and due to the great work from firefighters the guard was able to see that fire hold where it is plus with those trying conditions over the weekend, it is a success.”
Lastly, Burford noted there is no shortage of work remaining as we head into the “core fire season”.
“It is a very ongoing and monotonous process but the firefighters are doing a really great job along with the equipment on the ground and the aircraft.”
“By no means are we out of the woods with this one, we still have weeks ahead of us.”
Burford added 5 to 15 millimetres of rain fell within the fire zone overnight, which will assist mitigation efforts.
There are 33 wildfires located in the VanJam Zone – 18 of which are classified as out of control – 130 fire personnel and several pieces of heavy equipment remain in the area.
Overall, there are 419 blazes across BC – 143 of them are in the Prince George Fire Centre.
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