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.

“Then they start what we call mopping up, which is going in and … putting out any hot spots that they find,” she explained.

Subsequent to my interviewing Ms Larsen, CKTZ discovered a BC Wildfire situation map on which the Read Island fire was said to have covered eight hectares. I suspect this was prior to both of my interviews today, but cannot verify this as their news update office closed at 4:30 PM.

We still do not know how or when the fire started, but there are reports of smoke on neighbouring Cortes Island yesterday afternoon. A Whaletown resident who wishes to remain anonymous said he noticed the smell around 2 PM, yesterday. Three hours later there was smoke where the BC ferry docks. Another report from Cortes Island, says the smell penetrated as far inland as the Green Mountain area. There was no smoke in Whaletown when I visited earlier today.

Larsen says the lack of smoke just means that it is not high visible flames.

“It’s not a huge fire like they are having up in Kamloops … but a three hectare fire in and around cabins, like this fire was last night … it is a pretty substantial fire for a crew to go in and work on. It depends on what it is burning in and the terrain as to how you can put an interpretation of small or large or whatever.”

She added that environmental forecasters are predicting warmer and drier summers in the years to come.

“This is just another symptom of that, where we get a very warm and dry period in the Spring. Hopefully we will have our June rain, which will wet everything down. Then we move into the summer months, of July, August and September, where we do get a lot of long term drying and heat.”

Photo Credits: Smoke from Read Island by Bob Katzko via Cortes Community Radio Facebook.