Squamish Valley wildfire more than triples in size, despite rain
Posted April 3, 2019 9:47 am.
Last Updated April 3, 2019 10:01 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SQUAMISH (NEWS 1130) – The rain has made conditions more difficult for crews fighting a wildfire in the Squamish Valley.
The blaze has more than tripled in size to 50 hectares. On Tuesday, the fire was an estimated 15 hectares.
“It’s burning on steep slopes, in moss and clumps of spruce trees,” said Dorthe Jakobsen with the BC Wildfire Service.
“It was already slippery. The scree slopes are slippery. With a little bit of rain, that’s going to make that even more treacherous for our crews. But we have 11 firefighters there and they’ll be looking for any opportunity to get in and see how the fire’s behaving and what they can do to knock it back.”
But Jakobsen says crews aren’t expecting the fire to grow today. “I think that’s reasonable to assume, but we need to see how much precipitation we got and where on the fire it landed.”
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The weather is keeping air support off the fire, which came within about 30 metres of a home.
“It was well-prepared for. There’s sprinklers up and everybody was well aware of it, so there was really no danger,” Jakobsen said.
The fire is still under investigation but is believed to be human-caused.
While the Squamish Valley Road remains open, people are being asked to avoid the area.
Jakobsen is urging everyone to be careful and check local bylaws on backyard burning.
“A lot of these fires this early in the season are human-caused. We’re asking people please to be very careful, if they’re going to be doing any burning — make sure they monitor it, make sure it’s not windy, make sure it’s out cold.”
– With files from Dean Recksiedler
