Firefighting crews were able to get closer to the Kleena Kleene fire than they had in previous days when winds were more active in the area, fire information officer Ken Juvik told the Tribune Monday evening from the Anahim Lake fire camp.
“The rain’s been variable but it has helped out significantly,” Juvik said. “The fires are being held down and they are able to get in there and work on them directly.
Presently the Kleena Kleene and Colwell Lake fires are more than 11,000 hectares and the Precipice fire is 7,400 hectares.
“The next few days are supposed to be a little bit warmer and drier and toward Thursday there’s a little system coming in but the confidence in whether or not that is going to drop some precipitation is not clear,” Juvik said.
It was good day, he added.
“Things are fairly stable now and we are keeping an eye on the Highway 20 corridor to make sure the fire doesn’t go across. At one point it was estimated to be about 800 metres from the highway. It got quite close.”
Juvik was originally stationed at the Bella Coola fire centre dealing the Precipice fire before it moved up the hill and onto the plateau and then into the Cariboo Fire Centre.
He joined the Anahim Fire Camp Sunday.
Original story:
A stretch of Highway 20 remains closed in both directions between the Tatlayoko Road to 50 kilometres west of Kleena Kleene due to wildfires.
As of Monday, Aug. 21 the Kleena Kleene fire — now including the Colwell Lake— measures approximately 22,427 hectares.
Protection of life, property and the highway corridor continues to be the number one priority of fire crews, the Cariboo Fire Centre noted in its latest update.
At the Kleena Kleene fire, crews continue to lay hose and work on mop up, while contingency guard preparation is also ongoing as well as danger tree assessment and falling. With the Colwell fire, crews are performing direct attack and continuing to establish guards.
The evacuation order for the Kleena Kleene and Tatla Lake areas that went into effect Friday evening remain in place.