Crews have made good progress on area wildfires…
The Dog Mountain fire by Sproat Lake is now 90 per cent contained, at 450 hectares.
The controlled burns July 8 & 9th were successful, and crews are now mopping up along the narrow neck of the peninsula, getting ready to put the fire into patrol status.
And evactuation order is still in place, but so far only one cabin has been destroy.
At the Old Sechelt Mine fire the estimated size is now 350 hectares, mainly because of controlled burns
The Sunshine Coast Regional District says a fly-over this morning which confirmed that all control lines have held. Â They’re released a more detailed map of the fire zone (see above).
The evacuation order for Carlson Point is still in place, and the Halfmoon-Carlson Forest Service Road remains closed.
And af fire near a campground in Coombs has been brought under control and is being mopped up by a combined team of local fire fighters and Coastal Fire Centre crews.
Meanwhile, the government confirms it’s signed a one-month contract with the Coulson Group for the use of the Martin Mars airtanker.
It can be called on any time starting Saturday, July 11. The province says it will only use it in situations where it is safe to do so.
You can hear the province’s latest wildfire briefing here.
Meanwhile, Environment Canada says a stalled high pressure ridge that brought record temperatures and drought conditions to the Island Coastal region is now moving East, which could help the firefighting efforts.
Meteorologist Lisa Caldwells also says the wind coming in with the new, Pacific low, will cut down the smoke in the air, by dispursing smoke near the ground, and chaning the flow higher up to push smoke away from the coast and into the interiors
We’ll get upwards of 5 millimetes of much-needed rain on the weekend, but that’s not enough to impact the drought.
Caldwells says that will likely take the return of the rainy season in the fall.
