The Davis Lake wildfire north of Mission remains at 150 hectares as of Friday (July 21) but Coastal Fire Centre says crews continue to make good progress.

The fire has not grown in size since last weekend, but it is still labelled as out of control and 鈥渁 fire of note鈥� by BC Wildfire Service.

Coastal Fire crews were able to complete a successful small ignition on Thursday (July 20) that helped 鈥渢ie off鈥� the eastern flank of the fire.

Information officer Kyla Preto says crews are continuing to mop up along the perimeter and in the newly burned area on Friday. BC Wildfire defines mop-up as the act of extinguishing a fire after it has been brought under control.

Planned burns started last week and were implemented to bring the fire to workable ground.

鈥淭his has allowed crews to make excellent progress on setting a hose lay around the fire鈥檚 perimeter,鈥� the BC Wildfire Service website reads.

As of Friday, there are currently 26 Coastal Fire Centre personnel and one helicopter on the scene. With wildfires spreading throughout the province, Preto says heavy equipment previously at Davis Lake has been diverted to other fires.

鈥淩esourcing has been quite tricky. So [we鈥檙e] just continuing to move things around where they鈥檙e most needed and where valuables such as lives or structures are threatened,鈥� Preto said. 鈥淚n this case, we鈥檝e been able to manage this fire with only our crew who are doing an excellent job of making really good progress on containing [it].鈥�

The fire was discovered on July 5 at approximately 8 p.m. just 0.5 km north of Davis Lake and 18 km north of Mission.

The blaze was six hectares when first discovered before growing to 38 hectares by July 7, 110 hectares by July 11 and 150 hectares by last Sunday (July 16).

Coastal Fire Centre information officer Kimberly Kelly says the spread of the fire can be attributed to less-than-ideal terrain with steep slopes, danger trees and unstable rock.

Lost Creek Forest Service Road is closed in relation to the fire and there are no current evacuation orders for the incident.

A ban from Coastal Fire on campfires, fireworks and more was reinstated on July 7.

dillon.white@missioncityrecord.com
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