Fire update - August 11

Not quite as hot today at the lake, likely due to the heavy smoke cover throughout the day - high of 27C.

Today could just be the worst day of the summer for new fires.  Lightning storms hammered southern BC, sparking at least 75 new fires (most < 0.01 ha at this point).  Hendrix Lake was hit by the lightning at around 6:00-6:30.  It was a slow moving storm, you could hear the lightning from about 5:15 onward.  We received quite a bit of rain too, but I don't think we got the 20mm that was forecast.  It is still raining lightly though.  Too early to tell if there are any new local fires.

One of the worst hit areas was northern Vancouver Island.  There are at least 23 new fires in about an 80km stretch.

There are currently 29 fires listed as "Out of control" in the Cariboo.

Alerts
There is an evacuation alert for Eagle Creek and Hawkins Lake area due to the Lang Lake South fire (see details below).  Hendrix Lake residents received a call for this one on Friday because we are on the same exchange.  Hendrix Lake is NOT on evacuation alert.

Orders
There is an evacuation order for the Lang Lake and Murphy Lake areas.  This is due to the two large fires at Lang Lake.

There is an evacuation order for the area south of Buffalo Lake.  This is a few kms east of Gateway.  The fire there is 20ha, and is approximately 6km from Camim-Hendrix Road.



New fires include:
No new fires of note yet.

Existing notable fires:
McNeil FSR -  The fire just off of the top of the McNeil FSR is still listed at 117ha, but I suspect it's over 200.  It's possible this fire is out due to the heavy rain tonight.  I'll check on it personally tomorrow.

Mt Hendrix - The two fires on the east side of Mt Hendrix are still "Out of control".  The fire east of McNeil Lake remains at 1.5ha, and the fire 3km west of McNeil Lake remains at 15ha. Neither was visible when I checked out the McNeil FSR fire this morning.

Lang Lake South - about 3km south of the lake and 8km from Eagle Creek.  The fire is still listed at 440ha.  The are east of Lang Lake is heavily logged, but south (towards Eagle Creek) and southwest (towards Schoolhouse Lake Provincial Park and Ruth Lake) is not. There is only one firefighter and one helicopter on this fire due to difficult terrain.

Lang Lake North - a few hundred meters from the north end of the lake.  No update today, still listed at 345 ha. 

Buffalo Lake - about 2.5km southwest of the lake.  This fire is now 100% contained at 20ha, see above for evac order that is still in effect.

Hawkins Lake - 1km southwest of Hawkins.  This fire is out.

Canim Lake - The fire that was originally reported on August 1st and re-appeared on the map on Sunday is now out.

2018 BC wildfire stats
June 20-23: 136 new fires, 13 still active
July 17-19:  64 new fires, 17 still active
July 30-Aug 1:  210 new fires, 130 still active
All of May: 125 new fires, 3 still active
All of June: 178 new fires, 16 still active
All of July: 309 new fires, 115 still active
All of Aug: 349 new fires, 255 still active

Current "Out of Control" fires: 249

Note: these stats are for fires greater than 0.01 hectares.

BC map August 11 at 8:00pm