The North West Fire Centre is managing five out-of-control wildfires in remote areas of the Cassiar Fire Zone, after it successfully put out 24 of the 37 blazes that ignited in the region this month.
Operations officer Orin Caddy said ground crews are working dedicatedly and has all the resources needed to address the out-of-control wildfires at this stage.
The fire service can draw from provincial and federal resources if the situation gets worse, he said.
The four fires near Jennings River and the Cassiar Mountains do not currently threaten communities or infrastructure, and the fire crews needed to divert to a fire near the Yukon boarder, Caddy said.
A challenge is poor visibility from the recent rainfall, Caddy said. Poor visibility makes it unsafe for on-the-ground crews to use aircrafts for rescue missions and other tasks. The fire service will re-assess if suppressing the out of control fires is possible, he said.
When a wildfire continues to spread and does not respond to firefighters’ attempts to suppress it, BC Wildfire labels it as out of control. Yet, Caddy said these out-of-control wildfires are relatively contained.
“They are all left in a very safe state. There is no risk of them spreading in a meaningful way, but we left them as ‘out of control’ because they did not meet the criteria for us to put them into another status, basically.”
Caddy said the fire service hopes the rainfall helps the on-the-ground fire crews suppress the remaining wildfires while limiting the number of new wildfires.
Looking forward, the province has been cooler and damper than serious fire seasons such as last summer, Caddy said. During the upcoming weeks, the weather will likely get warmer with clearer skies, which is good for aircraft visibility, he said.
More information about wildfire activity, including the wildfire dashboard and updates about wildfire public safety, is available on BC Wildfire’s webpage at gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/wildfire-status.