Recent lightning storms have sparked two small wildfires on the northern part of Vancouver Island.
One fire is located west of the Muchalat River, approximately half way between Tahsis and Gold River. The fire was ignited on Thursday with lightning as a suspected cause.
“Initial attack crews and a helicopter are bucketing and working to establish ground access,” Gordon Robinson from the Coastal Fire Centre said in an email.
The second is on the west end of West Thurlow Island near Sayward. As of 11 a.m. on Friday, crews were en route to the fire and will be doing more reconnaissance and beginning to suppress it when they arrive.
Both fires are small, at approximately 0.01 hectares each.
There are 10 fires burning on Vancouver Island, according to the BC Wildfire Dashboard. Two fires are also burning at the end of Bute Inlet just north of Campbell River. A series of thunderstorms that passed over the Island this week caused a number of flare ups in the area.
UPDATE: As of Friday afternoon, the fire near the Muchalat River has been declared out by the coastal fire centre. The West Thurlow Island fire is considered under control.
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marc.kitteringham@campbellrivermirror.com
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