BC Wildfire Service confirms fire near Mackenzie was not ignited by cigarette or campfire

Wildfire activity continues to rage on throughout the Prince George Fire Centre, as the active wildfire count has hovered around the mid 50’s to low 60’s mark for the last couple of days.

Currently, there are 57 fires burning in the PGFC and five in the Northwest Fire Centre, which are contributing to the 266 active province-wide.

Three of the PGFC blazes are still considered to be ‘of note’ meaning they’re either highly visible or pose a potential threat to public safety.

One of them, the Tentfire Creek blaze was issued an area restriction yesterday (Tuesday) by the BC Wildfire Service.

Sharon Nickel, PGFC Communications Specialist says one of the wildfires of note, the Pine River blaze located between Chetwynd and Mackenzie has nine firefighters, two helicopters, and one structure specialist on-site.

“There was a significant amount of precipitation that was received on that incident site on Sunday, while the fire is still classified as out of control and approximately 2,542 hectares, the specialist there is continuing to work on their assessment of the area to identify the values that could be potentially impacted if the fire were to pick up activity again,” she explained.

Over the weekend the blaze burned down a couple of structures in the area and closed off a section of Highway 97 overnight.

While the investigation into the cause of the Pine River fire is ongoing, the BCWS has confirmed it was not ignited by a cigarette but or campfire.

The remaining wildfires of note are the Cutoff Creek fire located southeast of Vanderhoof and Tentfire Creek, located just Southwest of Tumbler Ridge.

“Cutoff Creek remains out of control at approximately 31,601 hectares, right now we have 65 firefighters, five helicopters, and 17 pieces of heavy equipment on that incident,” she explained.

Meanwhile, the out-of-control Tentfire Creek wildfire is about 3,148 hectares in size and has 25 firefighters and three pieces of heavy equipment on site.

Environment Canada is predicting some rainy conditions today (Wednesday) and tomorrow for both Prince George and Vanderhoof, and Nickel says it could help mitigate the fire activity in the area.

“Precipitation is always welcomed but that also kind of depends on the forecasted winds and the risk of thunderstorms in some areas, so our weather forecast does remain unsettled and in terms of how much the precipitation does help, the winds impact not only directionality for potential growth for fires but it can impact the relative humidity and the ground level moisture,” Nickel added.

There is a 60% chance of showers for both PG and Vanderhoof tonight and a 30% chance in tomorrow’s forecast.

Meanwhile, the Kamloops and Southeast Fire Zones continue to be hardest hit by the 2021 wildfire season, with 84 and 68 active blazes, respectively.

Hundreds of residents, mainly in the Kamloops Fire Zone had to evacuate on Sunday evening due to the rapid-fire activity.

Yesterday (Tuesday), BC Wildfire Service officials said they’re hoping that the rain forecasted for areas of the zones will help mitigate the extreme fire activity currently seen.

As a result of the fire activity and the rising COVID-19 case count, provincial officials continue to urge residents to avoid the Interior at all costs.

Nickel says the North remains pretty fortunate in terms of wildfires impacting highways, and the only roadways being seriously impacted are ones located in the Interior region.