Lac La Biche Area Update

Wildfire Update: Thursday 2pm

Posted on Thu, May 28, 2015

gfx-hsb-wildfiredangerupdate-extreme

The wildfire hazard remains extreme despite the cooler temperatures and scattered rain we received last night.  Cooler temperatures and increased humidity helped calm the fires last night.  Both the Pony Creek Fire and the Burnt Lake fire were experiencing smouldering ground fire and lots of smoke this morning. Winds are from the northeast today.

Burnt Lake Fire - LWF 122

A progression map of this fire is shown below.  You can see the where the fire grew each day.  The current size is 27,194 hectares. Some of the growth is because of the wind event last night as the cold front crossed the area and some of it is attributable to back burning and other ignition we did on the south west flank of the fire. Today we are actively working on the northeast flank of the fire.  The winds are blowing out of the northeast, so it is safer for our firefighters to work in that area.  They are building cat guard around that area of the fire, with the plan that when the winds switch to SW on Monday, the guard will be able to hold the fire back on the NE side. There is currently 22 km of dozer guard. On Monday, when winds switch and will be out of the SW, we plan to back burn in the southwest corner.  Yesterday, before the wind event, crews were working on the southwest and west flanks.  The fire is a bit larger than Cold Lake (the actual lake, not the town).

LWF_122_May_28_am 

 

Pony Creek Fire - LWF 126

This fire is 3300 hectares.  Yesterday's wind event saw new growth to the south and east.  This morning there was smouldering fire conditions and smoke.  Today the fire has been creeping towards the powerline on the east side of the fire.  Airtankers have been laying retardant along the east border to control fire spread in the direction of the powerline.  Northeast winds are trying to push the fire back onto itself in this corner, so spread is less than it would be if winds were from the southwest.  Southwest winds are expected on Monday, so it's important that this flank of the fire be controlled today and tomorrow while conditions are favorable.

The NE winds are pushing smoke away from Highway 881 and from Conklin.

The photo below is from yesterday after the cold front passed through.  The powerline is in the foreground.

LWF_126_May_27_afternoon

That's all I have for now.  Your next update will be posted tonight at 9pm (ish!).  Sorry for last night's delay. We hope our technical difficulties have been ironed out.

For more information, please contact:

Leslie Lozinski

Forest Information Officer

780-623-9758