Fire crews and cooler temperatures held a controlled burn that escaped guards and crossed Highway 97 along the top of a ridge near Maiden Creek, says Fire Information Officer for the Elephant Hill fire Heather Rice.
“We did have that excursion down at Highway 97 and Loon Lake near Maiden Creek,” says Rice. “We actioned that immediately with lots of water from the helicopters and air skimmers and were able to hold that fire. It went up to the top of the ridge and then stalled, which is often what happens in the evening when a fire hits the top of a hill so the plan today is, of course, to hold it in that particular spot.”
No additional infrastructure or structures have been lost in the last number of days, due to the controlled burn or the Elephant Hill wildfire, says Rice.
“That has not changed.”
Around Clinton, crews will be black-lining, burning fuels off the fire guards and wetting those areas down to remove fuels between the guard and the fire, “in some of those areas where it is needed.”
Crews have been successful in the Mound Road area where there has been active fire activity in recent days, says Rice.
“They were very successful in that area protecting those infrastructures and homes so they will continue to focus on that again today. There are also lots of structural protection units in there as well.”
With 22 helicopters on the fire, and supporting air tankers and skimmers, Rice says people may see more air traffic.
“It’s a busy fire,” says Rice. “People are going to see all sorts of air traffic coming and going in different areas of the fire depending on where they are needed.”
Winds are forecast to continue out of the north pushing the fire south.
“In the south east flank, because the winds are northerly, we do have crews down there making sure that the fire holds as best it can in that area and also a little bit of structural protection units have gone into that area as well.”
The fire remains approximately 15 km from Green Lake and 10 km away from 70 Mile, according to Rice.
In the north east of the fire, Rice says there are plans to look into some guarding of that flank with heavy equipment to build more fortified fire guards in that area.
“We do have people on every flank of the fire.”