FS015-26 (North of Wrigley)

Weather conditions

Fire activity is expected to remain low today allowing for more good work to be done on the community fire break. Approximately 36 hours of relief and limited growth on the fire are expected due to the rain received on Monday. Today’s weather – high of 22, relative humidity (the level of moisture in the air) variable from 55% to 85%%, and variable winds mostly from the North, 10 gusting up to 25km/h. 

Incident status 

• The fire did not grow closer to the community – with most growth since its start coming to the north and west driven by southerly and easterly winds. 
• Rainfall in the community (11mm) on Monday is expected to keep the fire in place for the next 36 hours – providing a good opportunity to get good work done and reassess strategies on this fire. However, the fire is not out and remains a serious situation to be managed. 
• An Incident Management Team has been deployed and will coordinate firefighting actions
• Additional aircraft are being assigned to the incident now that visibility has improved and the area can be accessed. Heavy equipment is being deployed to the area as well. 
• No losses of cabins or structures reported or observed at this time.
• Wildfire crews and aircraft responded aggressively and immediately on initial attack. However, extreme fire weather conditions and poor visibility overwhelmed these efforts.

Incident actions

• Structure protection continues to be deployed across the community’s edge and at at-risk critical infrastructure – with a priority on north end of the community and critical infrastructure. 
• Heavy equipment is in-place to widen community fuel breaks to provide greater community protection and provide additional safe options for fire response. 
• An ignition specialist is assessing opportunities for ignition operations – carefully planned, intentionally set fires intended to remove vegetation in the fire’s path – to head off the fire’s growth using natural features and breaks in forest fuels.
• Perimeter suppression strategies are being reassessed after the rain event to inform the long-term management of this fire.