Out of control wildfire in Kootenay National Park continues to grow in size
CTV
An out of control wildfire continues to burn in Kootenay National Park in British Columbia, near the Alberta border.
An out of control wildfire continues to burn in Kootenay National Park in British Columbia, near the Alberta border.
The fire has grown to about 190 hectares since it started Wednesday evening, which is the size of around 475 football fields.
Lightning caused the fire in the Mitchell Ridge area in the southern part of the park, two kilometres east of the Kootenay Valley Viewpoint and seven kilometres north of Nipika Mountain Resort.
Charlie McLellan, fire and vegetation specialist for Parks Canada in Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay, says having a wildfire of this size so early in the season is concerning.
“It seems quite small compared to some of the fires that are burning in the boreal, but for here in the mountains for this time of year in mid-May to have a fire that’s nearly 200 hectares is certainly not normal,” he said.
“We don’t enter fire season until typically early July, so this is much earlier where we did get lightning ignitions that would grow beyond kind of initial attack efforts.”
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Parks Canada said the growth of the fire was primarily seen at the northern edge, where it is burning in a forested area with plenty of material to ignite.
