Read Island’s 2018 ‘out of control’ wildfire spread over 8 hectares. According to the Campbell River Mirror, the 2019 blaze consumed 34 hectares. The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) is concerned about the potential for fires on some of the neighbouring islands in the Surge Narrows as well. After consultation with Read Island residents, on March 12, 2020 their protection plan was amended to become the Surge Narrows Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
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CorilAir serves Campbell River and the Discovery Islands
Cortes Island Air was based in Gorge Harbour in the 1990s. That was before Richard Godfrey sold the company to Mike Farrel in 2000. Farrel relocated to Campbell River, but preserved the company’s origins in its new name. CorilAir is short for Cortes Island Airlines.
While the airline now flies out of Campbell River, it still serves Cortes and the other Discovery Islands.
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Fourth Day Mopping up the Read Island Fire
Cortes Radio News update – Though BC Wildfires is continuing to monitor the site, there is no longer an immediate threat and firefighters have been withdrawn from Strathcona Provincial Park. To the east there are still 21 people working within a 8 hectare burn site in the Discovery Islands. BC Wildfire spokesperson Donna MacPherson describes the fourth day mopping up the Read Island fire
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Update on Read Island Fire
Cortes Radio News update – Though the smoke appears to have died down, Jeanne Larsen of BC Wildfire says the Read Island fire still covers about 3 hectares and the situation remains unchanged since our last report. Crews are currently building a containment line around the fire.
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Becoming Nature Boy
George Sirk’s radio program comes from a lifelong passion. He became a specialist in “tropical ecology, in places such as Australia, Papua New Guinea and tropical America,” and later an expedition leader in the Canadian Arctic. He first brought this to the airwaves for CFUV in Victoria. George also produced seven minute clips on the Arctic for CBC’s Morning Show, before Prime Minister Harper cut back on funding. He returned to Cortes Island in 2016 and on February 1 became CKTZ’s newest talk show host. In this morning’s interview, I ask George Sirk about becoming Nature Boy.
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