By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
The Heather Lake wildfire located in E.C. Manning Park continues to burn out of control and as of Tuesday Sept. 6 is located two kilometres south of Highway 3, five kilometres southeast of Manning Park Resort, and 10 kilometres southwest of Eastgate.
Because of a number of trails and facilities within the E.C. Manning Provincial Park south of Hwy. 3 are affected by the Heather Lake Wildfire, BC Parks has issued an evacuation order and alert for these areas.
The B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS) says the fire is burning in a heavy fuel and has “the potential for aggressive and rapid growth if winds, and terrain align.”
The fire began with a lightning strike just across the US border. Significant smoke was visible from portions of the fire burning in the U.S., while areas burning in Canada grew steadily but not rapidly, the BCWS said.
A new fire was also discovered 1,500 metres north of the Heather Lake fire, and is currently estimated at 0.6 hectares in size. The Incident Management Team responding to the Heather Lake Fire will also manage this new incident.
The BCWS said it has liaised with BC Parks and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to prepare for the possibility of the Heather Lake Fire impacting Highway 3, or trails and campsites with the E.C. Manning Park.
Members of the public travelling or recreating in the area are reminded to be aware that changing wildfire conditions may lead to evacuation orders being implemented with short notice.
There are currently 16 Firefighters, six Structure Protection personnel, three helicopters and one piece of heavy equipment working on the fire.
Structure protection personnel are currently assessing and triaging structures within the park and installing equipment as needed to protect values in the park, the wildfire service said. A water tender will continue to restock relay tanks used for crews and structure protection activities.
Evacuation Orders are in effect for the southeastern portion of the park while Evacuation Alerts are in place for the southwestern portion.
