‘Important milestone’: Shetland Creek wildfire downgraded to ‘being held’ Sunday
Posted August 18, 2024 2:13 pm.
For the first time since it was discovered over a month ago, the Shetland Creek wildfire has been downgraded from “out of control” to “being held.”
The BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) says cooler weather and hard work by crews have made significant progress on the blaze, which is currently about 28,000 hectares in size.
“We’ve certainly seen a variety of weather in the last few days, but it has been noticeably cooler, and we have this relative humidity with a higher level, so that has really assisted in our fire suppression activities and allowed for the crews to make some good work out on the fire line while the while the air is quite humid,” BCWS information officer Paula Walbauer told 1130 NewsRadio.
“And so we’ve seen less fire on the landscape in the last few days.”
She says being able to downgrade the status of the fire is an important milestone, but that doesn’t mean smooth sailing in upcoming days.
“Crews still have lots of hard work ahead, strengthening our control lines, and continuing to extinguish hotspots and wet down the earth, removing that heat,” she said.
“We still do have several unit crews and contract crews, danger tree assessors and followers on site.”
Walbauer says the fire has a large perimeter, so crews will be using scan maps to extinguish hot spots. As well, helicopters will still be bucketing in and around the area.
The fire has been burning just over 7 km north of Spences Bridge since July 12. Over the past month, it has prompted multiple evacuation orders and alerts between the communities of Spences Bridge and Ashcroft, east of Kamloops.
