While the Mara Mountain wildfire is still classified as out of control, a July 24 flyover of the area provided local fire officials with a better understanding of the situation.
The BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) took Sicamous Fire Chief Lorenzo De Arcangelis and Columbia Shuswap Regional District deputy regional Fire Chief Len Youden up to show them exactly what they're dealing with.
"It's a big fire, it really is, but I can see why the terrain is inaccessible for ground crews," Youden said of the blaze that's still listed as 260 hectares. "There's a lot of varied and complex gullies and steep slopes in there that just make it... not necessarily an easy spot to action with ground crews."
Adding to that is the fact there is currently no access provided by the Ashton Mara East (Skyline) Forest Service Road that was blocked at one side by a landslide that removed a bridge at the other. The BCWS and CSRD are currently working to install a temporary bridge "and then look to get ground crews on it."
Despite the size and complexity of the fire, there was some reassuring news for Sicamous.
"The good thing that we saw was that the fire, to get to Sicamous it would have to go through the 2021 burn... which BCWS, one of their primary things that was going to be a decider for them was how did that fire behave when it hit the old burn. That was going to be very telling for them," Youden said, but added that's not a guaranteed fire block.
He explained that while the 2021 fire burned really hot, there are still some pockets of fuel, though it's burned fuel that they call "in the black" that doesn't have the volatile oils that are in live coniferous trees.
In a fire update to Sicamous council at Wednesday's Committee of the Whole meeting, De Arcangelis said he's had really good, effective communication from the BCSW and CSRD, and praised his crews for their quick action when the fire broke out.
"On the day that Mara... escalated, we got all of our equipment ready within 35,45 minutes, so I was pretty impressed by that," he said. "We wanted to know that we had it in place at the fire house and ready to go."
