Crews appear to have gotten a handle on central B.C. wildfires heading into the Labour Day long weekend.
Rain to the east of Prince George and the Fraser River has reduced the fire danger rating in that area to low to very low, information officers Jillian Kelsh and Sandra Wagner said Thursday.
To the west, the rating remains high to extreme going towards Vanderhoof, although Kelsh, who speaks for the Prince George Fire Centre, expected that to change over the next 24 to 48 hours with rain passing through.
The Northwest Fire Centre just lifted its campfire ban, Kelsh noted, while there is no such ban in this area.
Further south, the danger rating is expected to remain high west of the Fraser, according to Wagner of the Cariboo Fire Centre, and a campfire ban remains in effect in that area. With dry conditions forecast for the west, the ban will stay in place she said.
"Even though there are cooler temperatures at night, during the day there haven't been significant rain showers," Wagner said. "So with the [high] fire danger rating west of the Fraser River, there is definitely still potential for new wildfires.
"And even east of the Fraser, if people have a campfire we just ask they keep it small, safe and supervised at all times to make sure there are no unnecessary human-caused fires."
Eighty-five more out-of-province fire personnel arrived in the province Thursday to allow B.C. firefighting crews to take mandatory days off. That comes on top of the 90 who were brought in last week.
Looking at the wildfires of note, the 3,450-hectare China Nose fire 15 km southeast of Houston was 65-per-cent contained as of Thursday morning, with crews continuing to mop-up and patrol the north, west and south flanks.
An evacuation alert issued by the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako for 245 homes in the area remains in effect and the Old Man Lake Provincial Park , 20 km east of Houston, remains closed.
The 129,699-hectare Chelaslie Lake fire in the vicinity of Entiako and Tweedsmuir Provincial Parks southwest of Prince George was 20-per-cent contained as of early Thursday afternoon, with 228 firefighters, 16 helicopters and 21 pieces of heavy equipment assigned to the blaze. Entiako remained closed.
The 18,343-hectare Euchiniko Lakes fire about 125 kilometres west of Quesnel was 40-per-cent contained as of Thursday morning with 110 firefighters, six helicopters and 11 pieces of heavy equipment working the blaze.
Gusting winds led to an expansion along the southeast portion but the northern guard lines remained strong, according to an update from the B.C. Wildfire Management Branch.
Kluskoil Lake Provincial Park remained closed.
The 1,625-hectare Stack Lake fire about eight kilometres south of Powder King in the Pine Pass remained zero-per-cent contained as of noon Thursday, but "weather in the area has decreased fire activity for the moment," the Branch said.
Further north, the 21,000-hectare Mount McAllister fire 56 kilometres west of Chetwynd was 60-per-cent contained, the 26,681-hectare Forres Mountain fire 50 kilometres northwest of Williston Lake was 15-per-cent contained and the 63,269-hectare Tenakihi - Mesilinka fire, 50 kilometres west of Williston Lake was 30-per-cent contained, all as of about midday Thursday.
