A downgraded evacuation order near Fraser Lake Thursday morning could be a sign of good things to come.
Despite being held for most of this week, strong winds are clearing smoke from the Shovel Lake wildfire which will allow air support to help battle the blaze.
“We’re just hoping that the guard and the containment lines that we have in place will hold and hopefully with the smoke being cleared, we will be able to be utilizing air tankers and helicopters and skimmers which will really help crews on the ground,” explains Fire Information Officer Forrest Tower.
The Shovel Lake fire is currently listed at 87,438 hectares with 236 firefighters, nine helicopters, and 46 heavy equipment battling it (as of 13:52 Thursday, August 23).
Tower goes on to say two portions of the fire are going well.
“It is going fairly good on the southern and eastern flanks, the guard is holding, and we are actually recommending, starting in the next couple of days, to start lifting some of these alerts and turning evacuation orders back into alerts.”
Downgrading and rescinding evacuation orders and alerts near the Island Lake wildfire have also been recommended.