The Parks Canada update for the wildfires in the Wood Buffalo National Park has been released for June 30th.
There are 56 fire personnel and four helicopters responding to the Pine Lake Complex today. A new full Parks Canada Incident Management Team (IMT) arrived yesterday to relieve the existing IMT as they finish their shift and head home. After a transition day yesterday, the incident will be managed by this new team moving forward.
The Salt River Day Use Area is now open to the public. The following trails in the area are also now open to the public: Salt River Meadows Trail, Grosbeak Lake Route, Salt Pan Lake Trail, and Benchmark Creek Trail. The updated Area Closure continues to include Pine Lake, Pine Lake Road and Parsons Lake Road.
Fire 7 was last estimated at 41,104 hectares and is still approximately 32 km from Fort Smith and 1 km northwest of Pine Lake. It continues to pose no threat to communities at this time. Yesterday, there was increased fire activity on the western arm of the fire, but with some precipitation, this activity will likely decrease today. Crews worked yesterday on the bottom southeastern piece of the fire to try to extinguish a spot fire along one of the fire guards – they’ll continue this work today.
Over the past week, crews have actioned hundreds of hot spots along the northern edge of the fire, reducing the number to almost zero. Today, they will continue to patrol the northern line to sniff out and watch for new smoke or hot spots burning deep in the ground. The goal along the north of this fire is to establish a perimeter line that is cold 100 feet in, to prevent fire spread.
Fire 2 was last mapped at 19,865 hectares and remains 8 km from Pine Lake and 68 km from Fort Smith. Yesterday, the northwestern edge again saw some fire activity, but because of the wind direction, was mostly burning into already burnt area (also known as burning into the black).
Fire 15 continues to be held and is not expected to grow outside of its current boundaries.
