9 p.m. update: “We were one of the more fortunate fires. The winds that were blowing and gusting today were actually blowing in our favour as opposed to all the other fires,” says Fire Information Officer Heather Rice.
“We actually had good success on Gustafsen. We didn’t see any substantial grown and all our guards are holding and now it will all depend on what happens if the winds switch as they’re predicted to do from the north and then that could affect us but we actually had a good day overall on our fire today.”
Original story: There are no new fires in the 100 Mile House and surrounding areas, says Heather Rice, Fire Information Officer for the Gustafsen Fire.
Due to reports of a wildfire in the Eagan Lake yesterday, crews did go out to that area, but there wasn’t anything found there, she says.
“Some of the other smoke reports we were getting were pretty much all smoke coming up from the Ashcroft fire. What happens is the smoke comes up from Ashcroft and sometimes it settles down a little bit and then it starts to rise again so it almost looks like a new fire or a new smoke, but all the reports we got yesterday were checked and there was nothing new found in the 100 Mile District Area or just outside of here,” she says.
“We’re currently still dealing with just the Gustafsen wildfire in this general area”
The Gustafsen fire remains estimated at 5,000 hectares. Earlier estimates were actually larger than the size of the fire, says Rice, so the controlled burn that took place Thursday actually brought the size of the fire to 5,000 hectares.
As of July 15, there are 233 firefighters, 15 helicopters, 42 pieces of equipment and 22 support staff including the incident management team working on the fire.
“Currently its getting a little windier right now but it’s still not bad. My understanding is that the forecast for most of today is similar to yesterday. It’s later this evening we’ll start to see the winds pick up and have a bit more challenge to the fire,” she says, adding that the smoke can impact the weather locally.
“We are preapring for this weather event and doing our best to secure all the guard lines today. People should just keep aware today and also again, a request for people to abide by that lake closure and to stay off Watson Lake, Lac la Hache and Horse Lake with regards to the Gustafsen fire.”