Four new wildfires sparked in the East Kootenay over the weekend, two of which remain active as of Monday, while the two others were already extinguished by the BC Wildfire Service.
Responding to two new wildfire starts on Sunday because of lightning strikes, both fires are not an active threat to the public and remain small in size.
The first and largest wildfire is 0.2 hectares, as crews are fighting that small wildfire west of Kimberley approximately 45 kilometres up the St. Mary’s Forest Service Road.
Meanwhile, the other wildfire is west of Cranbrook in the remote backcountry near Perry Creek and is estimated at 0.01 hectares in size.
The BC Wildfire Service also extinguished two wildfires this weekend.
Out at Mineral Lake, a human-caused wildfire was sparked on Saturday, although firefighters quickly extinguished the 0.01-hectare fire.
As well, a lightning strike sparked another 0.01-hectare fire west of Fort Steele on Mission Wasa Low Road on Saturday, but that blaze was also quickly put out by responders.
Given the cooler temperatures over the weekend and some regional rain, the fire danger rating in the Southeast Fire Centre has since dropped to “low” with some “very low” danger areas as well.
