Crews make progress on Squamish wildfire, say it’s now ‘being held’
Posted April 19, 2020 6:36 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SQUAMISH (NEWS 1130) – The large wildfire burning north of Squamish is now “being held.”
According to the BC Wildfire Service, this means crews don’t anticipate the blaze growing beyond the 200-hectares it’s already torched since early Thursday.
“We’re looking for any kind of hotspots,” fire information officer Marg Drysdale said Sunday evening. “[Crews are] using thermal scanning to find any hot spots, and they’ll deal with the hot spots as much as they can over the next little while. There are still some areas of heat that are on the slopes.”
She noted some areas are inaccessible, but added progress is being made.
The weather has also helped fire suppression efforts, Drysdale said.
“It’s been excellent,” she told NEWS 1130. “We expected it to be much warmer — it has been very good for firefighters, it’s been fairly cool. The relative humidity has been moderate, so it’s been very good. By Tuesday evening, our forecast is calling for a little bit of showers, so if we can get some work done ahead of those showers it’ll be excellent.”
There are currently 34 firefighters, two helicopters, danger tree followers, as well as more heavy machinery assigned to help fight the Squamish Valley fire.
Meanwhile, previous evacuation orders in the area have now been lifted.
Regional District officials have yet to provide details of property losses due to the fire, but it is known that a number of homes and other buildings have been destroyed in the fire, which is believed to have been started by an intentional burn which got out of control.
