The Pear Lake wildfire near Clinton continues to grow, and as of Sunday (Aug. 2) was estimated at 115,438 hectares; an increase of nearly 25,000 hectares since Saturday morning, when it was estimated at 90,475 hectares.
At its southeastern edge the fire has pushed into the Rim Lake wildfire between Loon Lake and Chasm. That fire showed minimal growth overnight on Aug. 1, and as of Sunday was estimated at 4,577 hectares.
These two fires, along with the French Bar Creek wildfire, make up the Big Bar complex. As of Sunday morning, the French Bar Creek fire was estimated at 37,106 hectares.
No new evacuation orders or alerts have been issued for these fires. For details of the existing orders and alerts, go the Thompson-Nicola Regional District’s Emergency Services dashboard, the Cariboo Regional District’s Evacuation Alerts and Orders page, the Village of Clinton Facebook page, and EmergencyInfoBC.
BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) says that Sunday’s temperature is forecast to be around 19 C, with relative humidity of around 30 per cent and northwesterly winds of 10-15 km/hr gusting to 30-35 km/hr.
This means that fire behaviour will be decreased compared with Saturday. However, fuels remain heavily impacted by drought, and are highly susceptible to ignition and increased fire behaviour if sunny conditions prevail and winds increase due to local topography.
In the Chasm area, structure protection personnel are working to extinguish spot fires in and around structures. Heavy equipment will be working off the east side of Highway 97, progressing north to establish containment lines. Structure protection personnel continue to prioritize work where there is active fire in and around structures, as well as triage and deploy structure protection equipment ahead of the fire where it is safe to do so.
Along the south flank of the fire where it is burning around the Village of Clinton, structure protection personnel are continuing with structure defence. Crews continue to work on hand and sprinkler lines along the fire perimeter around the Village of Clinton and going direct where it is safe to do so.
In order to secure containment lines, crews will often use drip torches to remove the unburnt surface fuel between the fire’s edge and the machine guard, ensuring that the fire will not spread beyond those containment lines into the interface area. This is a routine firefighting tactic that is used to remove pockets of unburnt fuel with low intensity fire, instead of allowing the fire to burn up to, and potentially over, guards at a higher intensity.
The wildfire service is assessing containment plans for the north flank of the fire. This includes using existing roadways and guards for planned ignition operations, which will remove unburnt fuel between these lines and the free burning fire’s edge.
These ignition operations will create an anchor for crews to work out of when the predominant south winds return to the area. They will also assist in containment along the northeast flank of the fire. Further updates will be provided once a plan is established.
The Rim Lake wildfire is currently burning in burn scar from the 2017 Elephant Hill wildfire, where sparse fuels are helping to decrease fire activity and behaviour.
A guard is now fully established around this fire, but there are still pockets of unburnt fuel between the fire’s edge and the established guard. Over the coming days, crews will assess options to ensure containment.
The French Bar Creek wildfire is burning upslope in steep and rocky terrain, in fuels that are a mix of grassland in areas near the Fraser River and timber in upslope and plateau areas.
The terrain, availability of water, and access to the fire are posing challenges for responders. Due to these challenges, and higher priority incidents within the complex, firefighting resources will be assigned when there are achievable objectives.
On Saturday, fire activity along the south flank increased and the fire did jump the Fraser River. Crews will be actioning this portion of the fire on Sunday, going direct to extinguish the fire’s edge for containment.
There are currently 279 firefighting personnel, 214 structure protection personnel, 24 helicopters, and 86 pieces of heavy equipment assigned to the Big Bar complex.
Highway 97 remains closed between Loon Lake Road and 76 Mile Frontage Road, with no estimated date/time of reopening. For information about highway closures, go to DriveBC.
For information about all the wildfires currently burning in the province, go to the BC Wildfire Service website. You can also download the free BC Wildfire Service app, available for Apple and Android products.