Shifting winds and less smoke coverage pose challenge to Pear Lake wildfire fighters

“The fires in the Big Bar Complex have been under an upper ridge this week, which has brought a stable pattern of hot and dry conditions. Fuels continue to dry out and becoming increasingly susceptible to ignitions,” said the BCWS.

“Today, August 21, is expected to be the hottest and driest day this week. Temperatures are forecast to reach up into the low 30s with relative humidity dropping as a low as 10 to 15 per cent.”

With the change in the weather, winds are also expected to change directions.

“A wind shift is forecast for the complex today. For the last couple of weeks winds across the complex have had a northerly influence. Today winds are transitioning to become more southerly. They are anticipated to remain generally light, 10 to 15km/h with localized gusts up to 30 km/h,” said the BCWS.

Crews along the southern flank of the fire — near Pavilion, north of Highway 99 and west of Highway 97 — are working to control the fire’s spread.

“South of Pavilion Mountain, crews and heavy equipment operators completed machine guard and will continue to bolster these lines over the coming days, removing additional fuel with equipment and planned ignition operations to limit the chance of the fire growing beyond these containment lines,” said the BCWS.

“Structure protection has moved four water tanks into the Highway 99 area and have filled them. This preparation allows easy access to water should structure protection along this corridor be necessary in the coming days.”

The BCWS is fight fire with fire in the area through controlled ignitions north of Calcite Peak, as well.

“The ignition will help prevent the fire from crossing Pavillion Creek and the last viable road system suitable for containment and fire suppression efforts. If the fire crossed Pavillion Creek and grew in a southerly direction, the terrain would limit containment options to Highway 99,” said BCWS officials.

“The ignition will provide crews with a safer work environment that can be better supported by aircraft for effective containment once the ignition is complete.”

The planned ignition was partially completed on Thursday (Aug. 20), with the goal of removing fuel and brining the fire to established control lines and into an old burn scar.

Planned ignitions are also ongoing in the northwest flank of Big Bar Mountain and the Jesmond area.

Elsewhere, structural protection crews are active in areas all around the fire, such as Big Bar Road, Chasm, Clinton, Jesmond, Canoe Creek, Meadow Lake and Riley Lake.

According to the BCWS, the lightning-caused fire has grown to 162,325.7 hectares (about 1,623 square kilometres) since it was first reported on July 17.

The BCWS has 474 firefighters, 23 helicopters, 123 pieces of heavy equipment, 99 structure protection personnel, and an incident management team assigned to the Big Bar Complex.

by Elora McCormack

Shifting winds and less smoke coverage pose challenge to Pear Lake wildfire fighters

Our Community