Coast Mountain News Thursday, August 15, 2013
A1
Grizzly Bear viewing photography workshop
$1.00 + GST
Vol. 29 | No. 17 Thursday, August 15, 2013
Serving the Bella Coola Valley and the Chilcotin
Serving the Bella Coola Valley Page and the Chilcotin
4
CoastMountainNews.com
Wayne Levesque photo
The South Bentinck fire is approximately 130 hectares
Cooler weather brings some reprieve to local forest fire conditions This week’s cooler weather brought some much needed lower temperatures and precipitation, helping to ease local forest fire conditions. With the exception of the rare thunderstorm, Bella Coola hasn’t seen significant rainfall in over a month. The extremely dry conditions led to a number of lightening strikes, resulting in several fires throughout the area.
Records were set across the province for the driest July ever, with absolutely no rain for Vancouver or Victoria. Bella Coola saw some sprinkling, but nothing substantial. Hot weather dominated the forecast for weeks, with temperatures consistently in the high 20s or low 30s. The largest fire in the Bella Coola area is situated in South Bentinck and, at press time,
was 130 hectares in size. Smoke from the fire has been drifting into the Valley for the past week, making for some hazy days. However, the fire has slowed down significantly in the past few days. “The South Bentinck fire is below the Blue Jay Lake Recreation site and the Clayton Falls FSR is closed to protect public safety. The Recreation site is above the fire, and as
fire travels uphill easier than down, it’s not a good place for the public to be,” said Donna MacPherson, Coastal Fire Information Officer. “This fire is being closely monitored, but crews are not working it due to the steepness of the slope and the instability of the trees where the fire is burning. This location has been burned before, and there are a lot of snags and unstable trees.”
The second fire is located at Horsetail Falls in Tweedsmuir Park, and is now listed at 100 percent contained but will be subject to patrols to make sure it doesn’t start up again. This fire was also the site of a helicopter accident. Last week, a Kamov helicopter run by Vancouver Island Helicopters was forced to make a hard SEE FIRE ON PAGE 3