The fire size was aerial mapped July 18th at 2,058 hectares. This change in size is attributed to the growth that occurred in the afternoon of July 17th, upslope on the west flank of the fire.
A warming and drying trend is expected to persist throughout the week. With less cloud cover, sunny weather and temperatures warming up more quickly throughout the day, relative humidity's will be lower than over the weekend and fuels will continue to dry out. This is expected to contribute to increased fire behaviour and fire activity, creating potentially volatile conditions during peak burning times.
The containment lines the crews have been building on the south, east and north flanks continue to hold up well against gusting afternoon winds.
The fire perimeter along the south flank burned quite patchy and uneven. Today the crews will continue with mop up along the line and worked to extinguish hot spots and smokes up to 50 ft in from the perimeter.
The crews working along the Stein Valley walking path continued with hose lay and establishing sprinklers yesterday and by the end of the day they had established 1,500 foot of hose lay and tested the sprinklers to ensure everything was working properly. Today they will be activating the sprinkler system and running it for the day to add moisture into the value bottom ahead of the anticipated hot and dry afternoon conditions.
Initial attack crews completed mop up on the 1.3 hectare spot fire found on the morning of July 17th near the start of the Stein Valley Nlaka’pamux Heritage Park walking trail. Crews are now closely patrolling the spot for any remaining burning embers to ensure nothing pops up.
A coordinated approach in the response and protection of the Stein Valley Nlaka'pamux Heritage Park will continue to be a priority for Lytton First Nation, BC Parks and the BC Wildfire Service.
A representative from Lytton First Nation that specializes in archeological site and cultural values is working with structure protection specialists and BCWS crews to identify cultural values. They will be working with crews along the Stein Valley walking path as well as around the north and south sides of the Stein Valley and will continue to provide guidance and recommendations on the best options for protection of those values.
The Lytton First Nation crews will be working south of the Stein Valley, continuing to extinguish pockets of heat and smokes found during their mop up and patrol efforts around structures within the fire’s vicinity.
On the north flank, the crew that has been working along the steep mountain ridge will continue pushing further up slope with their guard construction, advancing on the progress made yesterday. Further north, the crew that completed construction on the contingency line ahead of the north flank will be establishing hose lay up the length of the contingency line they built yesterday.
While the south, east and north flanks of the fire are currently exhibiting minimal fire activity, the western flank, on the north side of the Stein Valley remains active. However, much of the terrain in this area is steep and inoperable.
Helicopters provided bucketing support throughout the day and continue to have good success on both the north and south flanks, allowing crews to safely continue directly attacking the wildfire.
Rappel crews are establishing helipads to facilitate access for crews and equipment.
Structure protection assessment and triaging remains ongoing.
To view the most updated map of the wildfire and surrounding area, click here.
This incident is classified as Out of Control. Learn more about stages of control here.
The Stein Valley Nlaka’pamux Heritage Park is closed. More information is available here.
In collaboration with Lytton First Nation, traffic into the wildfire area along the west side of the Fraser Canyon is now limited to wildfire response personnel and local traffic only between Texas Creek Road/Spencer Road at the 20.5km mark south of Lillooet and at the Lytton footbridge. When travelling in a wildfire area and along these road systems, please slow down, remain aware of your surroundings at all times, and respect all signage posted along the route.
Currently, there are no impacts to Highway 1 or Highway 12. The Lytton Ferry is closed in both directions. Please check DriveBC for updates here