Wildfire update

No out-of-province firefighting personnel headed up north

Jul 9, 2021 | 2:24 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — Three wildfires of note continue to keep crews busy in the Prince George Fire Centre.

In fact of the 224 fires in B.C., 37 are burning in our region. Despite that, we won’t be receiving any help from the close to 100 out-of-province firefighting personnel that arrived in B.C. earlier this week.

Sharon Nickel, a communications specialist with the BC Wildfire Service, says that support is focused south of us.

“So, right now we don’t have any of the out-of-province personnel coming up to the Prince George Fire Centre. As resources become available they’re deployed to areas where there’s the most concern.”

And with the current forecast, that’s a concern.

“So today were are expecting increasing cloud with a risk of showers or thundershowers moving into the evening. With those we are expecting some potential wind gusts up to 50 kilometres,” says Nickel.

Looking ahead to tomorrow she says closer to seasonal temperatures are expected with a little bit of wind and a chance of thundershowers across the Prince George Fire Centre.

As for the 6,000 hectare lightning caused Cutoff Creek wildfire, Nickel says an area restriction remains in effect for the fire south of Fraser Lake. An Evacuation Alert has also been issued by the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako. This alert spans from approximately 60 km south along Kenney Dam Road to Knewstubb Lake and 6km west of Kluskus Forest Service Road along the Natalkuz 500 Road to Knewstubb Lake.

Another fire of note, the Chilako fire, remains just under 1,500 hectares in size while the Tentfire Creek fire is 915 hectares.