‘Burn out’ near Verdant Creek wildfire cancelled due to unsafe local conditions
A controlled burn that had been planned for the remote southern edges of the Verdant Creek wildfire was postponed Sunday due to unsafe conditions.
Parks Canada had hoped to conduct a “burn out” operation in the Mount Shanks area Sunday to help prevent further spread of the fire southward in Kootenay National Park.
But Parks staff determined Sunday afternoon that conditions weren’t safe and the burn has been postponed.
A spokesperson for Parks Canada said there was some “extreme fire behaviour” Sunday that made it unsafe for crews to introduce any more fire onto the landscape.
Officials describe a burn out as a fire-suppression technique.
“You’re taking some of that fuel that could be consumed by the fire and you’re burning it in advance of the fire reaching it,” said Lindsay McPherson, an information officer with Parks Canada.
The fire is about 5,100 hectares, according to the most recent estimate from Parks Canada.
Officials expect warmer temperatures to contribute to increased fire risk and smoke along the southern boundary of the Verdant Creek fire.
Fuelled by the warmer temperatures, the Verdant fire, along with any potential burn out operations, could produce “a large smoke column that may be visible from the Bow and Columbia Valleys in the afternoons, and may settle into valley bottoms in the evening,” Parks Canada said in a news release Sunday.
McPherson said Parks staff are evaluating whether the burn out can be rescheduled and are hoping to provide another update soon.