The B.C. Wildfire Service said that firefighters experienced a slight reprieve battling one of its most concerning blazes on Saturday, and it was seeing stable skies in the parched northeast corner of the province.
However, another cold front is expected to bring high winds starting Sunday night into Monday, and conditions remain hot and dry across B.C.
In addition, motorists in the far north are being encouraged to check the status of the Alaska Highway (Highway 97) that continues to be threatened by a raging wildfire.
For the Kiskatinaw River wildfire in the northeast on the B.C.-Alberta border, however, firefighters say that forecasted high winds overnight on Friday did not materialize.
“We had calmer winds overnight than we expected and there was very minimal fire behaviour,” fire information officer Karley Desrosiers said Saturday morning. “So limited growth [is] expected.”
The blaze covered an area of 130.6 square kilometres as of Saturday afternoon, and it has resulted in evacuation orders for more than 50 properties in the community of Kelly Lake.
Highway 52 East remains closed due to the blaze, which has jumped the B.C.-Alberta border and is burning close to the Pembina Steeprock gas processing facility.
“The fire does remain to the north of Kelly Lake and the south of Kelly Lake, but not has not made it to the community itself,” Desrosiers said.
“We do have structural protection personnel continuing to work in the community to extinguish hot spots as they do occur.”
The out-of-control Kiskatinaw River wildfire in B.C. crossed into Alberta early Friday afternoon, prompting an Alberta emergency alert and an expanded evacuation order in the County of Grande Prairie.
Emelie Peacock, another fire information officer, said that an ongoing heat wave in the southern half of the province was increasing the wildfire danger — but much of the province’s fire activity is concentrated in the north.
As of Saturday afternoon 64 of the province’s 69 active fires were located in the northeast section of the province.
“Luckily, today we’re seeing just some smoky conditions, but pretty stable skies,” Peacock said Saturday.
However, Peacock warned that another cold front would come in on Sunday, bringing high winds and adding to hot and dry conditions.
“This challenging weather, it’s bringing winds of 30 to 50 [km/h], gusting up to 75 km/h,” she said.
“This weather is likely to bring a potential for extreme fire behaviour and fire growth on those currently burning wildfires.”
Fire jumps Alaska Highway
In B.C.’s far north, multiple fires are burning in the area of Fort Nelson — some of which burned through the winter and re-emerged this spring.
The Summit Lake wildfire is burning close to the Alaska Highway (Highway 97) west of Fort Nelson, and has resulted in evacuation orders for a stretch of properties along the highway.
Fire information officer Madison Dahl said that the fire grew on its southwest flank overnight on Saturday and crossed the highway in that area, and further growth wasn’t unexpected. It covers an area of 106.6 square kilometres as of Saturday afternoon.
“Crews today are focusing their efforts on ensuring that the active flame front, and any danger trees adjacent to Highway 97, don’t pose a risk to public safety,” she told CBC News on Saturday.
“We want to ensure that the wildfire has not impacted the integrity of Highway 97 and that we can safely allow for for travel for people in that corridor.”
DriveBC has the latest information for Highway 97. With no detour available, Dahl urged commuters in the area to be patient.
“We are doing our best to facilitate safe travel, but again, safety is our number one priority and unless it is safe to do so, the highway will remain closed,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Fort Nelson First Nation issued an evacuation order for the Kahntah area on Friday evening and upgraded an evacuation alert for the Fontas area due to nearby fires.
There are also special air quality statements issued for the Fort Nelson and Peace River regions on Saturday due to wildfire smoke.
