FORT ST. JOHN -- The B.C. Wildfire says the Donnie Creek wildfire is now the size of all of the fires that burned in B.C. last summer combined.
It is currently burning out of control at 157,500 hectares in size. It is 136 kilometres southeast of Fort Nelson.
Bryan Zandberg, B.C. Wildfire’s information officer for the Donnie Creek complex, says they anticipate more fire activity this week.
"We do anticipate there being activity throughout the week. Some of it will be our activity and it'll burn really hot and then it'll cool down. We will mop up afterward and then we've got a nice secure black line all through that area. We don't have that threat anymore, so we'll be alleviating some threats,” explains Zandberg. “But other parts of the fire might get up and get going on their own.”
There was aggressive fire activity over the weekend leading to the fire to explode in size. The region received one to two millimetres of rain Sunday morning.
“One of the key areas that we're concerned about is some of the oil, gas camps and infrastructure in the southern part of the fire,” says Zandberg. “We work really closely with our industry agency partners in terms of planning and actions to really avert damage to that infrastructure and to those assets.”
Winds from the southwest are pushing the fire towards Alberta, but away from nearby communities.
According to Zandberg, fire crews will be working on the south flank of the fire this week. They will be conducting planned ignitions in hopes to burn fuel close to containment lines.
Smoke is visible from Highway 97. “People might be seeing big columns of smoke going up today and think the fire's getting away. Most likely those are our planned ignition operations. And, that's really to secure our lines so we don't have these fuels right up against them that is a real danger,” says Zandberg.
There is an evacuation order and alert in place for the Peace River Regional District as well as orders for the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality.
