The Squamish-Lillooet Regional District has lifted its evacuation alert for the Upper Squamish Valley fire, the latest sign that crews are making favourable progress against the blaze.
As a result, there are no more properties that are under evacuation alert for this Magee Road fire.
On April 23, a crew of 36 firefighters will be continuing mop-up work that consists of finding hot spots and snuffing them out, said the BC Wildfire Service.
Information officer Marg Drysdale told The Chief the fire remains under control, meaning it will almost certainly not spread at this point.
Weather will play a big role in the coming days, as rain is expected for the area, said Drysdale. In some locations, precipitation could be as high as 20 millimetres.
“After the weather has gone through, there will likely be another scan taken,” she said.
“What they’ll do is rescan it, see if there’s any more hot spots and they’ll patrol it for a period of time, and once they’re satisfied they’re not finding anything else, that’s when they’re likely to declare it out.”
In the cases where ground crews can’t reach hot spots, they’ll let the rain pass through first and see if it snuffs them out. If that fails, crews always have the option of calling in a helicopter to bucket water onto the area, Drysdale said.
A campfire ban, which was prompted by the fire, remains in effect throughout the District of Squamish.
Nevertheless, Squamish RCMP say they’ve responded to seven fire complaints over this week.
Officers say the calls ranged from backyard, camp, and beach fires within the District of Squamish boundaries.
These types of calls unnecessarily strain police and fire resources, police say.
