The wildfire hazard is VERY HIGH for the Lac La Biche area. The hazard has dropped from Extreme to VERY HIGH because of a chance of precipitation tomorrow. The chance is very slight however, so please be very cautious tomorrow in the forest.
The forecast for tomorrow is for a high of 27 with humidity of 15%, winds NE10 and a small chance of precipitation which may have embedded thunder and lightning.
The fire burning in the Cold Lake Weapons Range remains out of control at approximately 4263 hectares. Airtankers dropping retardant were able to successfully tie in the south end of the fire to the cat guard. Cats have been working steadily through yesterday, last night and today to establish a fire break on the south flank of the fire. A few spots are burning outside the cat guard but the helicopters with buckets are holding the fire.
We have airtankers, 7 helicopters, 6 cat units, one water truck, two Type 6 Engines, 23 ESRD staff and 24 Firefighters on this fire today. Two additional crews will be arriving on the fire tomorrow.
We had one new fire today. This fire was in the Janvier area and is extinguished.
In addition to the resources on the Cold Lake fire, we have 19 crews, 13 helicopters, three cat units, five water trucks and other heavy equipment across the area.
A Little Bit of Fire Science
Fire suppression in calm wind conditions needs to be approached with special caution. When a wind is blowing it stabilizes fire spread direction and creates the head, flank and rear fire sides which offen allow a greater measure of fire predictability for ground staff and fire fighters. In calm wind conditions, like we have now, and especially when fuels are critically dry as they are now, all sides of the fire have equal potential to assume "head" fire characteristics, and all sides of the fire can change their behavior with little warning or apparent reason. Spurious winds caused by local convection can also have significant impacts on fire behavior.
Today the fire moved north west and then south, confirming the above theory about fire under slack winds.
Be extremely careful in the forest.
We had one new fire today in the Janvier area. Five other fires in the area remain under control.
Thanks for doing your part to prevent wildfire.
For more information, please contact:
Leslie Lozinski
Forest Information Officer
780-623-9758