The wildfire hazard for the Lac La Biche area is MODERATE.
The Fire Restriction was lifted today at 1600 hrs. A FIRE ADVISORY is in place, which means you can have a small, controlled campfire in a campground, your back yard or the back country. No other burning at this time: no burn barrels, no yard debris. Existing permits remain suspended and no new permits are being issued. Thanks for your co-operation.
The forecast for tomorrow is for a high of 16 with humidity of 60%, moderate rain with lighting potential and winds W30G50. We are expecting rain again on Saturday. The showers that crossed the area today were spotty and lighter than anticipated, and although helpful, didn't have much impact other than dampening the grass.
We had four new fires this afternoon. LWF 147 was caught at 3.2 hectares thanks to quick action from our airtankers, crews on the ground, and with added support from helicopters bucketing. LWF 148 grew to 20 hectares before the air tankers could cut it off. Crews and helicopters bucketing are working on this fire currently. Both of these fires are close together and northeast of Christina Lake. LWF 149 was extinguished quickly. LWF 150 is Under Control at .01 hectares and is in the Bovine area (northwest corner of our area).
The photo below shows the flames from LWF 147, soon after it was spotted. You can see it's burning in the middle of the forest - lots of spruce for quick burning and smoke.
The photo below was taken by a Wildfire Assessor, high above the action on LWF 148. From his helicopter you can see the airtankers dropping their load (bright red) along the side of the fire. If you look carefully you can see another tanker coming in behind for another drop.
Here is a bit of a lesson in how airtankers strategically attack a wildfire. In the photo below you can see the red line on the trees. This is the retardant dropped by the tankers. In this case the tankers use a line to cut off the head of the fire, and another line along the side to box in the flank of the fire. The idea is to box in the fire so it can't grow. We can tie the retardant lines in with roads or lakes if they're close enough, or else use retardant on all sides of the fire.
LWF 122 - Burnt Lake Fire (in the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range)
This fire is BEING HELD and has not grown in size. It is just under 32,000 hectares. Crews continued to work on containment lines on the north side of the fire. The north side of the fire didn't receive any precip today, and the south side received a small amount of precip. Crews are working to extinguish hotspots identified by early morning scanning. Almost 340 firefighters continue to work on this fire.
LWF 226 - Pony Creek Fire (west of Chard)
This fire is UNDER CONTROL and has not grown in size. Crews are working from the perimeter to the center of the fire to extinguish all hot spots. More than 260 firefighters are at work, mopping up this fire. As required, firefighters may be moving from this fire to the two new fires in the vicinity.
ASK 001 - Saskatchewan Fire/David Fire (near Garson Lake)
I do not have an update from this fire today. The area received some precipitation today and is forecast to receive more over the next couple of days.
The Rest of the Area
Several fires from earlier in the season remain on patrol status. So far this season we have had 150 wildfires! We have 13 crews, 10 helicopters, the airtankers, and one cat unit working on today's fires and positioned across the area to action new fire starts. The other crews are working on the Burnt Lake fire and Pony Creek fires.
For more information, please contact:
Leslie Lozinski I Forest Information Officer
780-623-9758