Lac La Biche Area Update

Winds Push Wildfires: EXTREME Hazard

Posted on Sun, Jun 28, 2015

gfx-hsb-wildfiredangerupdate-extreme

The wildfire hazard for the Lac La Biche Wildfire Management Area is EXTREME. 

Please avoid unnecessary burning.  Avoid or delay the use of quads and all terrain vehicles in the forest. If you must ride, stop frequently and clean grass buildup from your machine.  

Give careful consideration to where you might want to random camp, if you are taking an extended weekend around Canada Day.  Parts of The Old Conklin Highway, or "The Miles" as it's called locally could be impacted by LWF 161.  

The forecast for tomorrow is for a high of 31 degrees, humidity of 25% and winds at W15. There is no relief in the forecast until possibly Tuesday.  In the meantime, the hot temperatures are keeping humidty levels low, and the forest remains tinder dry and susceptible to forest fire.  Fortunately we are not expecting a high lightning hazard tomorrow.

We had 1 new wildfire today for a total of 184 fires in the area so far this season. The new fire is under control at .01 hectares.

Here is a recap of other significant fires in the area:

LWF 181 is out of control at 6.2 hectares.  This fire is within the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range. There is no threat to facilities at this time, and business within the Range is as usual.  Airtankers, ground crews and helicopters with buckets have been working on this fire today.

LWF 175, started Friday, is currently classified as out of control and is 8,000 hectares.  The fire started northeast of Cowper Lake (4-26-81-2-W4) and has spread southeast and crossed into Saskatchewan. This fire is about 5 miles south of Kimowin Lake (close to the location of the wildfire from earlier in May). Extreme fire behavior prevented ground crews from working on this fire today.  There was continuous crown fire today (open flame in the tree tops).  Eight helicopters with buckets and a dozer unit worked on this fire today when it was safe to do so.  We expect this fire to continue to spread driven by available fuels and winds.  The remote location is presenting access challenges for transporting heavy equipment and landing helicopters and crews.  An aerial ignition team was successful in starting a back burn along the north and east sides of the fire today.

The photo below shows the smoke visible for many miles.  The next photo shows the active flame front as the fire was moving southeast.

LWF_175_smoke_June_28

 

LWF_175_June_28

The photo below shows an approximate location and perimeter of the fire as of this afternoon.

LWF_175_map_June_28

The photo below shows the aerial ignition line along the north side of the fire.

LWF_175_ignition_line_north_june_28

LWF 171, approximately 60 hectares (slightly bigger than yesterday), is located at 4-12-73-8-4.  Ground crews with support from helicopters with buckets worked to contain the perimeter of this fire today.  There are 25 firefighters and six helicopters working on this fire today.  The new growth was a long "finger" running to the south from the fire.

LWF 161, Caribou Lake Fire, started Wednesday, remains out of control at about 3500 hectares. This fire is about 40 miles north of Lac La Biche lake (1-12-75-14-W4).  The smoke column is visible across the lake from town, from Wandering River and from Highway 63. There are 45 firefighters, three helicopters with buckets, and two dozer groups working on this fire today. Ground crews and support were pulled off the fire today due to intense fire behavior.  Gusting winds pushed the fire past the dozer guards established yesterday, seeing the fire grow to the southeast.

LWF 167 and LWF 169, in Cenovus territory in the Bovine area, are both on patrol status.

Several other fires from earlier in the season are still active, and are either under control and on patrol status, or are being held.  The Saskatchewan/David fire, from earlier in May,  was active again today, with torching and visible flames on the southwest edge (in Alberta, near Kimowin Lake).  Sprinklers have been deployed on a lodge in the area.  LWF 175 is burning south of this existing fire.

Outlook:  We expect tomorrow to be another active day and are anticipating continued erratic and intense fire behavior. Hopefully there will be enough precipitation on Tuesday to knock things down just a bit, and allow us to get crews onto some of the more aggressive fires.

Thanks for doing your part to prevent wildfire.

For more information, please contact:

Leslie Lozinski

Forest Information Officer

780-623-9758