As of Wednesday August 2nd, there are 363 wildfires within BC — six of those being on Vancouver Island.
The two new wildfires that have been discovered on the island, and firefighters have been mobilized in both situations.
One is up near Sayward and is quite small but could grow, the other is close to Sooke.
Tugwell Creek – near Sooke
The bigger of the two is a new wildfire which developed between the municipalities of Sooke and Shirley. As the crow flies, it’s about 5 kilometres from Shirley and 10 kilometres from Sooke.
It’s been dubbed the ‘Tugwell Creek’ wildfire.
It was discovered and reported to the BC Wildfire Service on Tuesday, August 1st and crews immediately responded.
Since it began, it has grown to a size of approximately 1.5 hectares and it has been designated as ‘out of control’ by the BC Wildfire Service, meaning that the wildfire is continuing to spread and is not responding to suppression efforts.
As of this publication, it is suspected to have been caused by human activity.
“After discover on the evening of August 1st, two initial attack crews responded with a helicopter and support from an air tanker group dropping retardant,” said the BC Wildfire Service.
“Today, [August 2nd], crews and equipment are constructing a guard and directly attacking the fire.”
Salmon River Mainline – near Sayward
This fire is small at the moment, totalling only 0.009 hectares, but if given the chance, it could grow.
Because the Sayward area has been dealing with Vancouver Island’s biggest wildfire of the season, there were crews in the area and one fire crew along with a helicopter were able to respond quickly.
It is located just south of the Salmon River mainline and just shy of 20 kilometres from the town of Sayward.
At the time of this publication, it has also been deemed out of control by the BC Wildfire Service.
