UPDATE: Scott Driver, Director of Cranbrook Fire & Emergency Services this morning reported the prescribed burn planned for the Canadian Rockies International Airport area has been put on hold due to potential wind gusts.

The City of Cranbrook is carrying out a prescribed burn Thursday, April 15, and localized smoke should be visible from Cranbrook, Kimberley, Fort Steele and ʔaq’am.

A 22-hectare parcel straddling the road entrance to the Canadian Rockies International Airport (CRIA) will see prescribed fire starting in the morning, to control fuel loads and limit conifer regeneration.

We are tackling this work as part of a larger coordinated effort to protect communities and infrastructure, with our partners and neighbours in ʔaq’am, Kimberley, the BC Wildfire Service, MFLNRORD staff and local industry.

The key goals of this prescribed burn include:

• reduce accumulations of dead wood and other combustible material;
  • promote ecological biodiversity by suppressing growth of regenerating trees; and,
• reduce wildfire severity.

Fire is a normal and natural process in this ecosystem, and it is our intention to return this landscape to a healthy, fire resistive state.

The effects of this burn will be visible from Cranbrook, ʔaq’am, Kimberley and surrounding areas, as well as Highway 93 and Highway 95A.

Lead image: Scruffy fuel load along the road leading to Canadian Rockies International Airport.  e-KNOW file photo

City of Cranbrook

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