Higher intensity fire behaviour is anticipated for the Donnie Creek wildfire this weekend as conditions dry out again in the Peace Region.
Temperatures are expected to stay in the low 20s’ for the next week with no rain in the forecast.
The blaze, which is 136-thousand hectares in size, just southeast of Fort Nelson has no shortage of personnel on sight according to fire information officer Bryan Zandberg.
“We have about 71 people on the ground dealing with heavy equipment. I think we’ve got 17 pieces of equipment on the ground, we are really working on our lines around the fire so that we can get to it.”
“So rank one is a smoldering ground fire and rank two is also showing that it’s a little bigger surface fire. So, that is how it has been up until yesterday – we are getting drying, warming trends here lowering relative humidity, temperatures are higher and we’ve got winds picking up today. You can feel it when you are outside, winds are starting to pick up again and that’s concerning.”
Zandberg added the large blaze does pose its fair share of challenges.
“It’s a near swamp, wetland, muskeg and it makes it really difficult to access and it’s quite remote. There are a lot of challenges and it’s just the footprint of this thing is so massive that we are really focusing our efforts on two divisions.”
There are 66 wildfires burning across BC including 42 in the Prince George Fire Centre – two of which are of note including Donnie Creek and Stoddart Creek.
The Stoddart Creek blaze is over 29-thousand hectares in size but is classified as being held.