There are two new wildfires and four listed as “out of control” of the 13 listed active wildfires on Vancouver Island, according to the BC Wildfire Service.
The two new fires are near the Great Central Lake in Port Alberni and in Gowlland Tod Park in Highlands. Three of the out-of-control fires are in Strathcona Park, and the other is near Nimpkish River.
In Strathcona Park, the Golden Hinde fire is under a “modified response” because the fire is in an area with difficult terrain for crews to get to, according to Gordon Robinson, fire information officer with the Coastal Fire Centre.
“It’s receiving a modified response so they’re just observing they’re keeping an eye on it and they established trigger points that if it goes past those they’ll start expression on it,” Robinson said. “But where it is right now it’s not really in workable grounds so they’re just observing it, it’s not threatening anything.”
Golden Hinde is also the biggest fire in Strathcona Park, with an estimated size of 40 hectares.
The suspected cause in two of the Strathcona fires is lightning, and the third has an unknown suspected cause.
The Nimpkish River wildfire is also receiving a modified response, where fire crews are fighting on three sides of the fire.
“In this case modified response means that three sides of the fire are on workable grounds and are being fought there,” Robinson said. “But up on the top where it’s running up onto the ridge, it’s too steep and dangerous to work. So there’s one side of the fire that they’re just watching.”
The Nimpkish River wildfire has an estimated size of 25 hectares, and has an unknown suspected cause.
The Great Central Lake fire was out of control, but crews worked overnight and moved the status to being held this morning.
“That one also started yesterday,” Robinson said, speaking with CHEK News around 8 a.m. “Our crews responded and worked through the night on that fire and just within the last hour got it to being held.”
Being held means the fire is not expected to grow any further, but there is active firefighting efforts on the fire.
The suspected cause is a human, and the size is 6.4 hectares.
The Gowlland Tod Park fire is under control, which means crews are monitoring it for hot spots but no active firefighting.
“Gowlland Tod one was reported yesterday evening,” Robinson said. “And one of our crews and Highlands Fire Department responded to it and brought it under control within a couple of hours.”
The wildfires at Thetis Lake in View Royal, the second Nimpkish River wildfire, Iron River Road near Campbell River, East Robertson River near Lake Cowichan, River Terrace between Nanaimo and Ladysmith, and Taylor River are all under control.
Thank you to View Royal Fire Rescue who lead the response, as well as to Colwood and Langford Fire, BC Wildfire Service, and CRD staff, for their quick actions in working to suppress a fire at Thetis Lake Regional Park over the weekend. An area near Seymour Hill remains closed. pic.twitter.com/kEEChdXoYT
— CRD (@crd_bc) August 29, 2022
Another near Upper Campbell Lake is being held.
Lightning is the suspected cause of four of the fires, human of two, and unknown of seven.
Laura Brougham
