Slow-burning blaze near Sicamous being monitored: BC Wildfire Service

A slow-burning wildfire successful a scarred information of nan Shuswap is being monitored by nan BC Wildfire Service.

The Mara Mountain wildfire is located 7 km southbound of Sicamous. It isn’t threatening immoderate structures, and nary removal alerts aliases orders person been issued.

The BC Wildfire Service has estimated nan fire’s size astatine 260 hectares. It’s listed arsenic being retired of control, albeit astatine a slow complaint of spread.

A chopper and an serviceman are monitoring nan blaze.

“The occurrence is presently burning successful an area that is surrounded by alpine connected 1 broadside and burned scars from past wildfires,” said occurrence accusation serviceman Shae Stearns.

“When a wildfire is burning successful areas for illustration this, wherever location are scars from past wildfires, there’s typically little (forest fuels) for wildfires to burn. So if it moves done there, there’s little substance for it to consume, truthful it lessens nan fire’s activity.

“So it whitethorn enactment arsenic a firebreak for early fires, and could assistance by slowing aliases stopping them.”

Stearns added that this fire, though, has its challenges.

“One of which is slope stability, which we person seen successful past wildfires successful that area. And that is preventing dense instrumentality from going into that area to activity connected nan fire,” said Stearns.

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There’s besides a deficiency of safe entree and egress, pinch 1 wood work roadworthy featuring 2 closures.

BC Wildfire says they’re moving pinch section officials to create safe access.

“But we do proceed to person helicopters bucketing and nan imaginable for aerial tankers if location are identifiable objectives,” said Stearns.

“More often than not, aerial resources can’t put retired a occurrence by themselves. So we dream to person crushed crews successful location to afloat extinguish those fires.”