Crews crush Waterton hot spots, credit Kenow blaze for fire break

Days after a fire burning south of the town of Waterton started growing again and spread into Canada, fire crews are thanking a previous fire for creating a fire break.

A dry, windy Friday afternoon saw the Boundary Valley fire — burning roughly seven kilometres south of Waterton — grow from 703 hectares to about 1,100 hectares. As of Sunday evening, only 13 per cent of the fire was under control.

“The 2017 Kenow Fire burned much of the area to the north and west of this new area of fire,” the Northern Rockies Incident Management Team said in a news release.

“Reduced fuels in this recently burned area should help act as a fire break.”

The Kenow wildfire, which started in B.C. before it jumped the border into Alberta, triggered an evacuation of Waterton Lakes National Park on Sept. 7, 2017.

By the time the smoke cleared, last year’s wildfire burned 38,000 hectares of forest, including 19,303 hectares in the park, Parks Canada said.

The Boundary fire didn’t grow much on Saturday or Sunday.

Work done by three Parks Canada helicopters and one U.S. heavy helicopter have played a large part in that, officials said.

“These actions have suppressed fire activity on hot spots and limited further fire growth, despite the windy conditions,” said Parks Canada communications officer John Stoesser.

“Waterton’s initial attack crew has prepared pumps, hoses and portable water tanks that enable firefighters to draw water from Boundary Creek and suppress the wildfire from the ground.”

Stoesser said eight firefighters from initial attack crews were travelling to Waterton Lakes National Park on Sunday morning. There they will work under the direction of U.S. crews to suppress the fire on the north side of Boundary Creek.