A highly-visible new wildfire has cropped up on North Vancouver’s Mount Seymour but is being kept in check by suppression efforts, according to the Metro Vancouver Regional District.
The fire is on a remote part of Mount Seymour and required crews to spend hours getting to it on foot, according to Brant Arnold-Smith with Metro Vancouver Communications.
“Access to the area is limited and our crews spent hours hiking into the area,” Arnold-Smith said.
“We heavily relied on aerial resources, upwards of 12 aircraft to actively suppress the fire in the early stages of this incident.”
In an update from Metro Vancouver Wednesday evening, Arnold-Smith said crews are beginning to gain the upper hand.
“Ground crews are on site working the fire. It is responding to supression efforts and is not spreading at this time.”
The BC Wildfire Service said it was still gathering information, but the fire was first spotted just after 4:15 p.m.
The fire is burning out of control, and was last measured at 0.3 hectares. It is burning on the west side of the mountain, near Rice Lake and not far from the second switchback on Mount Seymour Road.
No structures are currently threatened, but it is generating a large plume of smoke clearly seen from much of Metro Vancouver.
The District of North Vancouver said its municipal fire department was assisting the BC Wildfire Service and Metro Vancouver to attack the fire, and that helicopters were currently bucketing the blaze.
Air tankers and other resources have also been deployed, according to the BC Wildfire Service.
After initially saying the fire was not believed to be human caused, the BC Wildfire Service now says the cause remains under investigation.
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