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Briggs Creek wildfire now estimated at 1,500 hectares

Lone Sheep Publishing
By Lone Sheep Publishing
August 3rd, 2022

The lightning caused Briggs Creek wildfire located 11.5 kilometers west of the Village of Kaslo has ballooned to an estimated 1,500 hectares since the fire was discovered Monday, August 1, 2022.

The BC Wildfire Service previously estimated at 386 hectares.

Information on the BC Wildfire Service website said the fire is currently burning at high elevation, in steep inoperable terrain.

“Currently, this fire is moving away from properties, into remote areas of Kokanee Glacier Park,” BC Wildfire Service said.

There are 29 firefighters battling the blaze that includes two initial attack crews and a response officer on scene with a 20-person unit crew en route.

“This fire is burning in steep terrain, making direct attack challenging and inaccessible. Ground crews are working on establishing control lines in operable ground that will provide a safe, defendable space to carry out suppression activities,” the BC Wildfire Service said.

The Regional District of Central Kootenay has implemented an evacuation alert in the vicinity of this fire that included properties on Kaslo Creek South Fork road in Area D.

The Briggs Creek wildfire is one of five fires of note in the province, and the only major blaze in the Southeast Fire Centre.

There are currently 527 fires burning in BC, with 162 reported in the past seven days.

The Southeast Fire Centre has 25 fires burning in the region, that extends from the U.S. border in the south to Mica Dam in the north, and from the Okanagan Highlands and Monashee Mountains in the west, to the B.C.-Alberta border in the east.

Tuesday, the Southeast Fire Centre issued a campfire ban in the region that begins Thursday, August 4, 2022 at Noon.

 

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