Fighting fire with fire: planned ignitions helping contain massive Clinton-area blaze

“The first phase of the planned ignition operation north of Clinton, along the west side of Highway 97, has been completed,” said Big Bar Complex Fire Information Officer Paula Walbauer.

The BC Wildfire Service said if all of the work goes ahead as planned, crews will have removed nearly 3,000 hectares of unburnt fuel in the area. They note planned ignitions are a tactic meant to help firefighters bring the flames to areas where it can be more easily managed.

“This ignition will support the containment efforts to safeguard property and infrastructure by burning to existing and constructed fire control lines,” said Walbauer. “This operation will remove the fuels between the main fire and the identified control lines while bringing the fire to safe and effective working ground for crews and equipment.”

Walbauer said, as the name implies, extensive preparation goes into conducting planned ignitions.

“Ignition plans identify, assess and mitigate potential hazards prior to commencement. Skilled and experienced firefighters utilize fire weather information to support decision making in terms of timing and scale of planned ignitions,” said Walbauer.

“This burn operation will be supported with appropriate resources, which includes aircraft, heavy equipment, structure protection resources and firefighters.”

This comes as the latest update shows that the blaze has burned across 732-square kilometres of land, an area roughly the size of Singapore.

The BC Wildfire Service noted weather conditions have been a persistent issue for crews battling the massive lightning-caused wildfire.

“[Wednesday], fire activity remained elevated and there was growth along the northwest and northeast flanks. Fire behaviour still challenged containment efforts later in the day,” it noted in a statement.

“The fire continued to be active along the north flank… both in the Long Lake area and the Chasm area and continues to impact the Highway 97 corridor.”

Meanwhile, evacuees from Clinton and the area still have no word on when they can return home, or what remains of their fire-damaged properties.

Meanwhile, BC Hydro will soon begin repairs to their power infrastructure, which was left with ‘unprecedented’ damage in the wildfire. It’s preliminary estimate is that power could be restored to Clinton within approximately two weeks.

Currently, about 200 structure protection personnel are working to keep any buildings still standing amid the flames safe.

“Some of those are from our BC Wildfire staff and our partner structure protection teams from across the province,” said Walbauer.

“We have two helicopters and two unit crews coming in from Alberta to the Big Bar Complex.”

by Elora McCormack

Fighting fire with fire: planned ignitions helping contain massive Clinton-area blaze

Our Community