Boundary fire under control, parks crew head home

It’s been a long few weeks for firefighters battling the nearly 1,200-hectare Boundary wildfire, but Parks Canada attack teams from Banff, Kootenay and Grasslands national parks will be headed home on Saturday.

Parks Canada said teams will be withdrawn, with growing confidence in that there will be no more significant fire growth within Waterton Lakes National Park.

On Friday, the fire was roughly 1,100 hectares with only 14 per cent containment. The fire will continue to be worked on by the U.S. Northern Rockies Incident Management Team.

A remote camera will be installed to provide real-time images of the area, Parks Canada said.

The fire — initially sparked on Aug. 23 seven kilometres south of the town of Waterton and on the U.S. side of the 49th parallel — stayed mainly stagnant until dry and windy conditions pushed the blaze into Waterton park on Sept. 7.

The fires prompted closures of the Bertha Lake Trail, and Bertha Lake and Bertha Bay backcountry campgrounds, which reopened Friday morning.

The Lakeshore Trail beyond Bertha Bay backcountry campground remains closed, as does the Bison Paddock overlook for helicopter operations.

Last week, fire crews said the 2017 Kenow fire, which burned 38,000 hectares of forest and triggered an evacuation of Waterton Lakes National Park, had provided a fire break for crews working on the Boundary fire.