BURSTFire activity could increase at the 164,745-hectare Pear Lake blaze in the Cariboo.
As BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) continues to battle the blaze, it said in its Sunday night update that the fire experienced rain over the weekend, but a warming and drying trend is expected to begin on Monday, Aug. 24.
As of Monday morning, six evacuation orders and six evacuation alerts remain in place at the Big Bar complex.
At the southern flank of the blaze, south of Pavilion Mountain, crews and heavy equipment operators have completed machine guard and will continue to bolster these lines over the coming days. This includes removing any additional fuel with equipment and using planned ignition operations to limit the chance of the fire growing beyond these containment lines.
Structure protection moved four water tanks into the Highway 99 area and filled them on Sunday, allowing easy water access over the coming days.
“Ignition plans were developed for the south flank of the fire, north of Highway 99,” added BCWS. “The objective of these ignitions is to remove the fuel between the main fire and the established control lines. Ground and aerial resources will look to complete the identified ignition operations in the coming days where conditions are favourable.”
Planned ignitions are supported by additional resources including helicopters, ground crews and heavy equipment. It will take place over multiple operations and only when conditions are favourable. These operations also always have an ignition specialist on hand, who can delay or stop the operation at any time if it is deemed unsafe, conditions are not favourable, or if objectives are not being met.
Off Highway 97 on the west side, crews are doing direct suppression, suppressing the fire’s edge around values.
In Clinton, some crews are starting to demobilize from the surrounding area, but are continuing to action any visible hot spots.
At Big Bar Road and Chasm, structural and wildland firefighters remain active within the fire’s perimeter around structures, patrolling and extinguishing hotspots where they flare up. This includes, but is not limited to, the Big Bar area at Hook Road and Isador.
At the northern part of the blaze by 70 Mile House and Green Lake, BCWS crews remain active as they monitor and mop up hot spots along the containment line.
Northwest, crews are beginning to construct a contingency line north of Canoe.
“This contingency line will be constructed in the event that the fire spreads beyond the sprinkler line that has been put in place in an area where crews can not safely work due to terrain and dangerous trees,” said BCWS.
East of Canoe Lake, crews are continuing to directly suppress the blaze. As they make progress, they are demobilizing so they can help with other parts of the fire.
At the northwest flank of Big Bar Mountain, ignition plans have been created. However, the ignition area is getting smaller as the currently wildfire burns. In addition, this ignition is unlikely to occur for at least three days due to current fire activity.
“This area of the fire is heavily forested and made up of complex and challenging terrain, which, when coupled with the existing drought conditions, poses a higher risk to firefighter safety,” said BCWS.
The fire also remains active between Big Bar Ferry Road and Big Bar Mountain.
Crews on scene are continuing to work around the perimeter to extinguish hotspots and reduce the potential for further growth or impact to structures in the Jesmond area.
On Friday, a 100-hectare ignition was completed south of Jesmond.
As of Monday morning, BCWS has an Incident Command team, 476 firefighting personnel, 89 structure protection personnel, 120 pieces of heavy equipment, and 21 helicopters at the Big Bar complex.
The Pear Lake wildfire is currently one of four wildfires of note and one of 184 active wildfires in the province.
Black Press Media will update the situation throughout the day.