VERMILION CROSSING – A lightning sparked wildfire in Kootenay National Park has shut down Highway 93 South in B.C. and is now 1,200 hectares in size and growing.
The Mount Wardle wildfire got started on Tuesday (July 31), as a thunderstorm rolled through the region sparking multiple wildfires in the region, including one east of Lake Louise and two in Kootenay Valley. A small wildfire was also sparked in Yoho National Park on Aug. 2.
An update by Parks Canada on Friday afternoon (Aug. 3) indicated the Mount Wardle wildfire is the most significant, having grown to 1,200 hectares, more than 10 square kilometres in size.
A fire ban is now in place for all of Kootenay, Yoho and Banff national parks due to the extreme fire hazard. The Town of Banff has also issued a fire ban within its municipal boundary.
Incident commander Jed Cochrane said Thursday (Aug. 1) that nine helicopters and multiple attack crews are currently fighting the Mount Wardle fire, which is expected to continue to grow throughout the weekend. An additional 25 firefighters are expected to join the crews by tomorrow (Aug. 4).
"The Wardle fire is exhibiting very active fire behaviour, very dense smoke is settling down in the valley and so for those two reasons the Highway (93 South) is closed at this current time," said Cochrane.
"We do expect the fire to continue to grow for the next few days until we can get those containment strategies into place and then after that we'll start working towards progressive containment."
He said the Lipalian Mountain wildfire, east of Lake Louise, is contained and expected to be extinguished by the end of today (Aug. 3).
"The fire on Lipalian Mountain, as I mentioned, is 100 per cent contained, so it's fully contained. It's 0.1 hectares in size, it has not grown since the fire was first found, we have a crew back on that fire again today and they're there just there for a final patrol to make sure that fire is out," said Cochrane.
"I'm fully confident that that fire will be extinguished by the end of the day today."
Cochrane said another fire that started on Aug. 2 in Yoho National Park in the Hamilton Lake area, near Field and Emerald Lake, is "very, very small" and expected to be extinguished by the end of today (Aug. 3).
"Once those two small fires are extinguished the priority for us will be to manage the Wardle fire and bring it to containment as fast as possible and obviously to work to get the highway open as soon as we can."
Area closures are currently in place for several trails and day use areas in Kootenay National Park. Visit Kootenay National Parks website for more information on the wildfire and the closures.
"This is a partial closure which means Highway 93 South is still driveable up to the Paint Pots day use area from the north and it's still driveable from the south to the McLeod Meadows Campground," said Cochrane, adding people can still access Radium Hotsprings from the south end of the highway.
An evacuation order has also been put in place for Kootenay Park Lodge due to the proximity of the fire to the lodge. A facility protection crew with high volume sprinklers are also protecting the lodge structure, according to fire and communications officer Shannon Bond.
Meanwhile, the B.C. Wildfire Service continues to fight the Whitetail Creek wildfire that was ignited Friday (July 27) by lightning. The fire is classified as out of control and is 290 hecatares in size, but crews have managed to contain 15 per cent of it as of Aug. 3.
There are 70 firefighters, seven helicopters and 8 pieces of heavy equipment on the ground. It is located about 14 kilometres away as the crow flies from the Wardle wildfire.
On Friday (Aug.3) the B.C. Wildfire Services announced it had reached a provincial preparedness level of four as 450 wildfires burned across the province. To help fight the fires the province has begun asking for help from outside of the province.
In Alberta, just outside the boundary of Banff National Park, firefighters from the province are battling a lighting sparked wildfire in the Siffleur Wilderness Area.
That wildfire is currently being held at 571 hectares in size.
