Fire crews are keeping a close eye on a wildfire near Numa Creek in Kootenay National Park – but are letting it burn naturally within a containment boundary for now.
A lightning-sparked fire was first reported on Thursday (July 25), but following a severe thunderstorm on the night of July 27 and into the early hours of July 28, the fire grew from one hectare to more than 50 hectares.
Initial efforts to put out the fire were unsuccessful because of its location high on steep slopes, but fire crews are now watching the fire carefully and letting it burn naturally.
Officials say the fire has not grown since Saturday because of cooler temperatures, but they are allowing it to burn naturally within a planned containment area in the upper reaches of the Numa Creek drainage.
“It’s beyond any easy suppression tactics and beyond initial attack at this point,” said Gregg Walker, fire and vegetation specialist for Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay.
“In the framework of our fire management plan, we’re moving towards indirect suppression, which means we’re letting it burn, but within defined boundaries.”
The wildfire has forced the closure of the Numa Creek drainage, including the Numa Creek campground and trail and the Rockwall Trail from Tumbling Pass to Numa Pass.
As of Wednesday (July 31), Floe Lake trail and campground remained open as were Helmet Falls trail and campground. Fire danger in Kootenay National Park is currently rated high.
Parks Canada has called people with backcountry campground reservations to notify them of the closure.
There is potential for a long-term closure of the trail this summer depending on seasonal weather patterns and increased fire behaviour, but Walker said he does not believe it will come to that.
“We’re thinking on the balance of probabilities that we’ve done the closures we need to,” he said. “We closed what was necessary for public safety, but we’re reasonably confident we won’t have to do any more closures.”
A local helicopter pilot first reported the lightning-sparked fire about 11 a.m. July 25, and Walker said Parks Canada had a helicopter on scene within the first few hours dropping water to control the fire.
“It was high fire danger and we decided full suppression was the approach because of the location as it relates to the trail and campground and Rockwall, as well as visitor experience,” he said.
“We did helicopter bucketing, and the bucketing was helping it, and we contained it on one side, but we weren’t able to extinguish it that day.”
Early the next day, Parks Canada sent ground crews to the site with the intent of suppressing the fire. They also continued to use a helicopter.
“But the fire behaviour started to be enough and, given the incredibly steep and difficult terrain, we had to take crews off for safety reasons,” said Walker.
Overnight on Saturday (July 27) and into the early hours of Sunday (July 28), thunderstorms rolled through the region and strong winds whipped up the flames, quickly spreading the fire to 50 hectares within 24 hours.
Parks Canada spent most of the day Tuesday (July 30) working on a long-term plan for the fire within the context of its fire management plan for Kootenay.
The plan allows for fires to burn naturally under certain conditions, although they may be forced to do limited burn-outs to make sure the fire doesn’t leave the containment boundary and move too close to Highway 93 South.
Walker said there are many ecological benefits to wildfires, noting the Numa Creek drainage is home to whitebark pine trees, which are an endangered species.
He said the Numa Creek drainage did not burn in the 2003 Verendrye-Tokumm wildfire, which ended up burning about 12 per cent of the park that year.
“We’re now adding a little more burned area, but this is no more fire than this kind of country has seen historically,” Walker said. “We’re still within the range of what has happened naturally.”
