Fire crews are continuing to work on containing the Shovel Lake wildfire that has grown to just under 80-thousand hectares in size.
Crews will be able to send in planes to dump water on the wildfire because visibility from the smoke has cleared up.
Kevin Skrepnek with the BC Wildfire Service says there has been growth but it’s not a bad thing.
.@KevinSkrepnek says he has never seen this many wildfires burning at once during his time on the job. 22 new fires started yesterday and there are 50 fires of note. Currently there are 556 wildfires taking place in the province | @mypgnow #NorthernBC #WildFires
— Jeff Slack (@Jeffslack369) August 17, 2018
“That change in size is reflective of some much better mapping of the fire. It’s not actually an indication that we have seen that much growth in the last few days. Having said that, [it is] certainly still very active out there. From what I am hearing from the field I think progress today has been generally good.”
However, crews will be faced with challenges as dry and windy conditions are expected
“On one hand we have that lack of rain in the forecast, so obviously that is going to be a challenge in terms of not getting a whole lot of assistance from mother nature,” added Skrepnek. “One the same hand right now, at least for the next three to five days, we are also not seeing any major adverse weather events either. Things are going to remain relatively static.”
There are currently 556 wildfires burning in the province with 22 starting yesterday and 50 of note.
The cost of the wildfire is estimated at $242 million.