By Don McCormick

Notes from a meeting with the Incident Management Team and a fly over the fire…

I flew the fire with Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA Doug Clovechok and his assistant Rachel Loganberg. Rachel runs the office here in Kimberley. Doug is keeping up on all aspects of this operation so that he can effectively advocate at a provincial level if or when that is needed. Thanks to Mike and Clay for making this possible.

The fire remains stable and the on-the-ground team are keeping it inside the guard. The biggest fear remains the weather. It was a wind event that led to the Evacuation Alert and another strong wind event could push the fire past the guard. So everyone remains vigilant. It is important to note that wind here in Kimberley does not mean there is wind at Meachen and vise versa.

While rain is forecast and would be a big help, it is also a concern as rain this time of year is usually the result of a thunderstorm which means lightning. Out Fire Department is on constant watch for any new fires near the city that could be lightning or human caused.

The smoke we are seeing in Kimberley is not all from Meachen or Lost Dog. We are getting smoke from the farther reaches of B.C. as well as the Pacific Northwest.

Smoke is actually a friend to firefighting. It helps keep temperatures down which is a huge help in fighting the fires.

Flying over the Meachen fire area really provides a perspective on the steep terrain and the difficulty getting firefighters positioned to fight this fire. While this fire is large in size, it is the advance towards the St. Mary Valley – where people and properties are – that is the focus. The helicopter pilots have been doing a great job of slowing the advance on the periphery where firefighters cannot go.

The Incident Management Team from Ontario is here for 14 days. After 14 days, they head home to decompress and get some rest in advance of a new assignment. There is a handoff to a new team at the end of the 14 days. So over the course of the fire we will see several teams responsible for managing our fires.

Flying into the smoke really got my attention at times. The pilots are incredibly skilled.

Having the Incident Control Centre located at the Teck buildings just off of Jim Ogilvie Way has been a real asset in fighting this fire. it is only about 5 to 10 minutes flight time to the fire. This means that they did not need to set up a camp near the fire zone, and could stay in Kimberley.

Although this team is from Ontario, there are three people from Quebec and one from the Yukon as well. Everyone has a specific job to do and each team can be comprised of members from many different places. They may never work together again.

The cool weekend forecast is welcome news. We do not have a sense as of yet for how long we will be under Alert…there are so many variables. However, things have been stable for several days which is welcome news.

Thanks to everyone for your community support and cooperation as we manage our way through this.

Lead image: An aerial look at the Meachen Creek wildfire site. Don McCormick Photo