1400-Hectare Southwest Tagish Lake Fire Burning 41 Kilometres West of Atlin

Wednesday, 7 August 2019 16:14

The Southwest Tagish Lake Fire viewed on August 3rd (Photo courtesy of BC Wildfire Service)

The 1400-hectare Southwest Tagish Lake Fire is now burning approximately 41 kilometres west of Atlin. Another new fire has been detected 50 kilometers west of Telegraph Creek and is burning at approximately 4400 hectares.

BC Wildfire Information Officer Jessica McDiarmid says the Tagish Lake Fire is currently burning at 1400 hectares and is burning approximately 41 kilometres west of Atlin.

Mcdiarmid says the fire grew over the weekend as winds in the area picked up.

"The fire was detected on July 6th and it had been quite inactive over the past month. However, over the weekend, there were high winds in the area that caused it to grow quite significantly to about 1400 hectares."

Mcdiarmid says some structures in the area have been secured to prevent damage occurring from the fire.

"Several cabins in the area have been outfitted with structural protection units. They are essentially large sprinklers which are in operation right now to protect the cabins. Since that time however in the last two days, there hasn't been any growth of the fire and we area closely monitoring it."

While Mcdiarmid notes that Atlin residents might see some local smoke from the fire, she says the community of Atlin is not under any evacuation alert at this time.

The fire is putting off quite a plume of smoke. People in the community of Atlin are likely noticing it. There's no threat to the community of Atlin. The fire is located about 40 kilometres away and it's located on the other side of the Tagish Lake on the southwest side of the lake."

Mcdiarmid says crews are closely monitoring the fire, which is burning in steep and inaccessible terrain along Tagish Lake.

Mcdiarmid highlights that the lightning-caused Volcano Creek Complex burning west of Bell Two on the Cassiar Highway along the Iskut River is under control. Crews were sent in mid-July to handle and suppress those fires.

Mcdiarmis says another fire is also burning approximately 50 kilometres west of Telegraph Creek.

"There was another fire that was detected on August 5th about 50 kilometres west of Telegraph Creek. That was during the same period of high winds. That fire already at detection was at 4400 hectares. It's not threatening any structures and it hasn't grown over the past few days either. We don't anticipate it will spread and we are monitoring it closely as well."

According to a British Columbia summer outlook for August 1st and onwards, northwestern BC is expected to have above-normal fire conditions for the remainder of the fire season.