Shellbrook Chronicle The voice of the Parkland for over 100 years Shellbrook, Saskatchewan Friday, September 20, 2013
VOL. 102 NO. 38| PMR #40007604
www.shellbrookchronicle.com
A number of vehicles and firefighters responded to the blaze, including crews out of Prince Albert, Shellbrook and Buckland.
Fire near Holbein contained by local crews A fire was spotted by fire detection aircraft in an area southeast of Holbein on September 17 and reported to the fire base in Prince Albert at approximately 12:45 p.m. Fire crews were immediately dispatched from the Prince Albert Fire Base. The Shellbrook Fire Department and the Buckland Fire Department were also notified and dispatched. Public safety 911 responded to the scene as well. “That fire was in Wildfire Management’s jurisdiction, so in cases like that where we have extreme fire conditions out there, we called in our air tankers,” commented Connie Bradburn, a Forest Protection Officer at the Prince Albert Forest Protection Base. Three different aircraft were dispatched from La Ronge where they were sitting on call. One of the aircraft was a Convair 580, which set a line of retardant around the fire. A CL215, which is a water dropping aircraft, was also sent to the
scene. The third plane was a Bird Dog aircraft meant to direct the other planes. In fires such as this one, the aircraft often perform the initial fire fighting duties. “They actually had to do some traffic control first when they got out there,” Bradburn said. “In the case where we have air tankers working on the fire, they are in charge from the air, so a lot of the ground crews are instructed to go to safe areas while the tankers are dropping ... When they are finished, then all the crews are allowed to go in and work on the fire.” According to Bradburn, once the aircraft were finished their work, the fire was about 70-80% contained. “The crews then went in and were assigned locations to work in by our incident commander that was out there,” Bradburn said. The site of the fire marked the same location that was set ablaze in 2002. The material that burned on Tuesday was the
regeneration from the old burn, which was made up of about 10-foot-tall pine. By about 5:30 p.m. on September 17, it was estimated that the fire was approximately 90% contained. It was expected at the time that before the crews were to leave for the night the fire would be contained to a point where they would have nothing but mop up duty the following day. Conservation officers have initiated an investigation as to the cause of the fire, but as of press time the investigation was still under way, and no results were reported. Fire Protection Officers are stating that the conditions in this area are currently at an extremely hazardous level in regards to forest fires, and people should take caution during the dry fall season. More photos on page 11
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