With smoke billowing from the hills above West Kelowna, B.C., numerous people expressed in online community groups and through phone calls to officials a concern that they were in for a repeat of last month’s destructive wildfire.
That is not the case, BC Wildfire officials said Wednesday.
“The Powers Creek drainage and the fire that is up along the ridge has been continually active, displaying puffs of smoke,” Sarah Hall, wildfire information officer, said.
Aerial resources continue to bucket heavily in that area, and there are retardant lines along the ridge of the Power’s Creek Drainage, where it’s not as easily accessible for crews and heavy equipment, Hall said.
Ultimately, however, much of the smoke is attributable to planned ignitions that are being done to better protect the community.
“With this planned ignition operation that is being conducted today, Sept. 6, and in addition to the one that was conducted yesterday, Sept. 5 … both operations together are really a critical piece for us in order to reduce the threat of the MacDougall Creek wildfire to adjacent communities,” Hall said.
“It also helped us bring the fire down in a controlled manner to pre-established guards in a safe access point for crews to operate off of that line and to use hose delivery systems and water delivery systems to extinguish hot spots.”
This planned ignition operation planned for Wednesday is expected to remove 350 hectares of unburnt fuels on the north and northwest to west side of Carrot Mountain, which is adjacent to the Powers Creek Drainage, and Tuesday’s took away around half as much similar material.
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That said, the fire is expected to be active for days, if not weeks, to come.
Temperatures are high during the day, and there’s been relatively little precipitation.
Luckily, the evenings are long and cool and that’s helping the firefighting effort.
Those who feel concerned, Hall said, should check with news sites and the Central Okanagan Regional District, who are putting up information.
“We are, as well, reminding the public that there is an area of restriction in place in the vicinity of the McDougall Creek wildfire,” Hall said.
This past weekend, she said, there were multiple incidents of people trying to get into areas that are currently blocked for public access.
“This is just in place for first responder safety as well as public safety as there are quite a lot of hazards still present in an active wildfire area even if there isn’t visible flame or smoke in that area,” Hall said.
Those risks include ash pits, heavy equipment working in the area or other hazards.