Latest
- The evacuation orders are in place in areas near Lake Kelly, BC, due to the fire of the Kiskatinaw river and along the Alaska road due to the fire of the Summit Lake.
- A section of the Alaska Highway will close at 5 pm on Friday and is expected to remain closed throughout the night.
- The Kiskatinaw river fire moved to Alberta until Thursday night.
- Forest fires are expected to grow due to high winds.
The BC forest fire service awaits an intense weekend of fire activity, since the winds threaten to enliven the flames of two important forest fires in the northeast of the province.
The two fires, the fire of the Kiskatinaw river and the fire of Lake Summit, are marked as “forest fires”, which means that they represent a risk for human life or critical infrastructure.
The Kiskatinaw river fire, near the community of Kelly Lake, BC, almost 60 kilometers southeast of Dawson Creek, is currently estimated at 119 square kilometers, but the fire information officer, Karley Desrosiers, said that this number is probably a growth -based response seen on Thursday night.
“We are certainly in a couple of more challenging days,” said DesroSiers, adding that the situation will probably be “very volatile and dynamic” between now and Sunday.
At a press conference on Friday, DESOSIERS said there is the potential that the fire grows significantly.
The perimeter of the fire has not reached the limit of Lake Kelly, although Desrosiers said that the embers that were swept in front of the flame in front of the community caused fires at the point.
He pointed out that a wind shift that is expected around 5 pm on Friday could push a flank of the fire towards the community of Kelly Lake.
The Regional District of Peace River has Evacuation Orders issued within the Kelly Lake Area.
The last known number of properties in the area was 56, but the director of the District’s emergency operations center, Ryan Kirkham, said the number has grown since the last census in 2021.
DESOSIERS noticed that the fire crossed Alberta’s border north of Lake Kelly on Thursday night.
The BC forest fire service has multiple helicopters that perform “diving”, pouring water on areas to cool them and perform high -level scans to map the perimeter.
The County of Grande Prairie and Alberta Wildfire are also supporting the BC forest fire service and organizations are working since the same installation in Dawson Creek.
“They are providing resources support from both a perspective and decision -making capacity, and also resources in the field, since they are available for them.”
The authorities said they did not have affected infrastructure reports.
DESOSIERS could not say when orders could be terminated.
“Until we overcome that period of very strong conditions, very erratic and, frankly, very, very dangerous, we will not be in a position to reassess the orders or evacuation alerts.”
She thanked the community for her support for the teams on the field.
“They are doing everything possible to protect life and property. That is their number 1 priority.”
Summit Lake Wildfire grows
The second BC forest fire, the forest fire of Lake Summit along the Alaska road to the west of Fort Nelson, BC, has tripled in size at 83.54 square kilometers from 26 square kilometers on Thursday.
The regional municipality of Las Rockies del Norte has issued a Evacuation order For an area along the Alaska road corridor from the Summit Lake camp to the brake control of the Steamboat mountain.
Fort Nelson’s first nation issued an evacuation order on Friday night for the Kahnntah Ir #3 area, an area 100 kilometers southeast of the Fort Nelson First Nation community and 108 kilometers northeast of the Community of the Prophet River.
BC’s forest fire service has told drivers to expect delays on the 97 highway (Alaska Highway).
Public services and acquisitions of Canada said that the Alaska road will be closed at the crossing of the 77 highway and the Toad River for traffic at 5 PM PT on Friday, since the strong winds are affecting the behavior of the fire. The department said he hopes the road will remain closed throughout the night. An update at 8 am PT is expected on Saturday.
Information officer Madison Dahl told CBC News that growth is due, in part, due to an air ignition of nine square kilometer completed on June 3.
“The purpose of these air ignition operations was to reduce the intensity of fire behavior throughout this section of the 97 highway by eliminating the fuel non -burned to prevent it from burning freely in more challenging climatic conditions,” said the forest fire service in Your last update.
Dahl said that the forest fire of Lake Summit will grow as high winds influence fire behavior and that notable conditions can change rapidly.
“The fire burns in incredibly resistant and difficult terrain with very limited natural barriers or breaks in fuel continuity,” the service in the update said.
There are 69 active forest fires in the province, 41 of which are classified as “out of control.”
