Planned ignition in North Shuswap saved hundreds of homes, BC Wildfire Service says

A planned ignition conducted on the Lower East Adams Lake fire in B.C.’s North Shuswap region last Thursday night was “largely successful” and saved hundreds of homes from the flames, BC Wildlife Service director of provincial operations Cliff Chapman said.

He took time during Monday’s provincial briefing to dispel rumours circulating in the public and on social media that the tactic was what ultimately caused the Lower East Adams Lake and Bush Creek East fires in what is known as the Adams Complex to merge over the weekend.

“We did our planned ignition under the conditions in which we plan for and it was largely successful. I want to be perfectly clear that the planned ignition saved hundreds of homes and properties,” he said.

He added planned ignitions are used frequently in B.C. and across the globe, and when conditions are as dry as they have been—meaning traditional firefighting tactics like water bombers won’t work—burning fuel is often the best way to protect infrastructure in front of a fire.

A planned ignition is when firefighters strengthen an existing control line—something inflammable such as mineral soil, a lake or a highway—by burning all of the fuel between it and the main body of the fire, Chapman explained.

“When we light off of the control line, it pulls the fire back into itself, thus eliminating fuels between the main body of the fire and anything past that control line,” he continued.

Just that was done last Thursday in the North Shuswap, as crews were aware that a cold front and high winds were on the way, and there was a continuous line of fuel between the Adams Lake East fire and the communities in the area. “We knew we had to eliminate that fuel,” Chapman said.

“Unfortunately, with the wind that we knew was forecast and that was coming, that fire went above the control line that we burned off from and then swept back into the communities in the North Shuswap,” he continued.

“We were still successful in protecting some of those properties along the North Shuswap in the hundreds. Unfortunately we've also now seen the devastation the main body of that fire had in areas like Scotch Creek, Celista and others, and our hearts go out to those individuals who have seen the devastating impacts of that fire making its push.”

Chapman added that the planned ignition did not result in the two fires merging, becoming the Bush Creek East blaze. “It was actually the cold front winds that pushed the fires together, and merging them towards Highway 1,” he said.

The mega fire is estimated at around 41,000 hectares in size.

FIRE CAMP BURNED

On Friday, the fire ran 20 kilometres in just 12 hours, leaving devastation in its wake in the communities in the North Shuswap, with homes, buildings and stores burned to the ground, including the fire hall in Scotch Creek.

A firefighting camp was also evacuated as the blaze made its run on Friday. The flames went right over the camp, destroying some empty tents and sleeping gear.

Thankfully, sprinklers were set up on all of the camp’s infrastructure, so critical gear and trailers were not damaged, and nobody was injured, fire information officer Forrest Tower said in an email to CTV News.

“The severity of the wind event that caused a 20 kilometre run south for the Bush Creek East wildfire is one of the most aggressive wildfire runs we have observed as an agency. I can think of very limited times in the last 10 years that an Incident Command Post or fire camp was impacted by wildfire like this,” he wrote.

An evacuation order for around 4,600 properties in the Columbia Shuswap Regional District remains in effect. Another 846 properties are on evacuation alert.