A crew of five firefighters, including members of Powell River’s BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) Initial Attack Crew and one helicopter, are reinforcing control lines on an out-of-control fire on East Redonda Island.
As of Thursday, August 30, the fire had grown to 110 hectares, when first discovered on August 24 it was 15.5 hectares.
The suspected cause is human.
On August 28, BC Parks had decided to let the Redonda wildfire burn, according to BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) communication assistant, Dorthe Jakobsen.
The fire, which is located inside the island’s ecological reserve is burning up from the eastern shoreline near the head of Pendrell Sound.
The island is located 40 kilometres northwest of Powell River.
A crew of five was sent in on Monday, August 27, and worked on establishing a control line before being taken off the site on Tuesday, August 28.
“We’ve built a control line and we also have identified what we call trigger points,” said Jakobsen. She explained trigger points as geographic locations that are monitored daily.
“We watch it,” said Jakobsen. “We monitor it daily and we watch it very carefully and if the trigger points are breached then we start talking about doing something different.”
The crew worked on establishing new control lines after previously established trigger points were breached by the fire on Wednesday, August 29.
Meanwhile, BC Government has extended the province-wide state of emergencyto September 12. The original state of emergency was declared on August 16.
According to an information bulletin by the province, as of August 29, 534 wildfires are burning in BC, with 34 evacuation orders affecting approximately 3,200 people, plus 53 evacuation alerts impacting approximately 21,800 people.
BCWS warns boaters, kayakers and aircraft not to approach active wildfires, such as the East Redonda Island fire.
To report a wildfire, unattended campfire or open burning violation, call 1.800.663.5555 toll-free or *5555 on a cell phone.
