A wildfire east of Nimpkish Lake was discovered burning on Oct. 3 and is two hectares in size.
“It’s suspected human-caused and it is currently under investigation,” said Coastal Fire Information Officer Marg Drysdale.
The fire is burning in slash in a steep and inaccessible area.
“We had the fire reported to us and because it is in a high elevation we took an assessment of it,” said Drysdale noting it has a potential for growth due to warmer forecasted conditions.
She said BC Wildfire Service will be “resourcing it but it is in unworkable ground - they need it to be in workable ground in order to fight the fire.”
Drysdale explained, “the slope is very steep - it’s not threatening any communities or people in the area and they will continue to monitor it at this point.”
She continued note that “the Nimpkish fire is actually high up and my understanding is that it was very visible from Sointula and/or Port McNeill and we want to let people know what we are monitoring the situation very carefully.”
Another fire was discovered Oct. 3 one kilometre west of Patterson Lake, north of Port Alberni.
“That fire is approximately six hectares in size the cause of that fire is suspected human-cause and it is under investigation as well,” added Drysdale.
The Patterson Lake fire is also burning in slash.
“It is an industrial site so there is forest industry on site and they are fighting the fire,” said Drysdale, adding “there’s no people or structure or communities threatened at all and the BC fire service is monitoring the situation as well.”
The campfire ban fire ban in the region was lifted on Sept. 18 and the open fire ban was lifted on Sept. 29 at noon.
“Whether is the forestry industry or the general public doing debris burning we ask people to be very cautious,” said Drysdale, adding “we are asking everyone to continue to be very vigilant and very cautious with whatever they do light.”