RDKB Emergency Operations update, evacuation alerts still in place
By RDKB
RDKB Emergency Operations Centre Update
- On very short notice, fire crews at the Kootenay Boundary, Christina Lake and Grand Forks fire departments delivered door to door alert notifications to 55 addresses in the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary on August 12.
- Full details of all evacuation alerts including how to prepare are available at rdkb.com.
- Evacuation alerts were delivered to 22 addresses on Granby and Volcanic Creek roads due to the Toronto Creek Fire north of Grand Forks, and to 33 addresses in the in the Santa Rosa and Big Sheep Creek areas due to the Horns Mountain fire between Rossland and Christina Lake.
- These alerts were put in place on the recommendation of the Southeast Fire Centre (BC Wildfire Service) and will remain in place until we are advised to lift them by the BC Wildfire Service.
- In general, fire activity in our region is more stable today than what we saw over the past two days. Lower temperatures, higher relative humidity and lower wind speeds are helping fire fighters do their jobs.
- Smoke remains a concern for respiratory health, but will keep temperatures lower. With winds predicted out of the west in the coming days, we will see the smoke drift out of our region and warmer, dryer conditions return.
- The RDKB Emergency Operations Centre remains activated at a level 1 to monitor these and developing situations. Our partner agencies are standing by to provide assistance if there is any reason to ask residents to evacuate.
Air quality readings in our region remain very poor due to wildfire smoke. On a scale of 1 to 10, the monitoring stations in our area are reading 10+. Those with compromised respiratory systems should stay indoors when possible and limit outdoor activity until the smoke clears.
More information can be found here:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/air-land-water/air
https://www.interiorhealth.ca/YourEnvironment/AirQuality/Pages/default.aspx
Toronto Creek Fire Update
- As of August 13, the Toronto Creek Fire is 11 hectares and 60 per cent contained.
- This fire is burning on the east side of the Granby River valley near kilometer 13 on Granby Road. This fire started from a lightning strike on Saturday morning and grew quickly in dry grass, brush and timber.
- The BC Wildfire Service has heavy equipment creating a containment line around the fire and the fire is being bucketed by multiple helicopters, leading to a high level of confidence that this fire can be held.
- The warming and drying trend forecasted for this week will increase activity on this fire, so the evacuation alerts will remain in place for now.
- Grand Forks Fire and Rescue is helping to monitor this fire and stands ready to deploy the RDKB structural protection unit should the need arise.
- This fire is exhibiting Rank 1 and 2 behaviour, which is much improved over the aggressive behaviour noted on August 11 and 12.
Horns Mountain and Big Sheep Creek Update
- As of August 13, the Horns Mountain and Big Sheep Creek fires are 161 hectares and 10 hectares in size respectively, and zero per cent contained.
- The Horns Mountain fire is located eight kilometres southwest of Big Sheep Creek in Washington State and is burning in a northerly direction. It is currently south of the USA / Canada border but is expected to cross the border without suppression efforts.
- The Horns Mountain fire is being managed by a Washington Department of Natural Resources Incident Management Team, and efforts are being made to prevent the fire from crossing into Canada.
- The Big Sheep fire is burning approximately two kilometers north west of the Big Sheep community, in steep terrain.
- These fire started from lightning strikes on August 11 and grew quickly in challenging terrain and under windy conditions. Both fires are being actioned by helicopters.
- The warming and drying trend forecasted for this week will increase activity on this fires, so evacuation alerts will remain in place for now.
- The RDKB structural protection unit is staged in Trail and will be deployed should the need arise.
Please see the BC Wildfire Service, Wildfires of Note, for the latest information on fire size, behaviour and action: http://bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca/hprScripts/WildfireNews/OneFire.asp
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