Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Village Bay Lake Fire, on Quadra Island, is no longer considered out of controi. The size has shrank from 4 to 1,5 hectares in extent, and according to BC Wildfire Information Officer Sam Bellion, it is now ranked as being held.

“Last night, they did blanket it in retardent. Crews worked through the night to action the western side of the fire. This morning, when we saw that update to the size, they also observed just rank one low smoldering ground fire along the north and west flanks as they were patrolling this morning. They're going to be working some more on active pockets of that rank along the southern edge today and working towards that containment. So, it's looking really good,” she said.

Cortes Currents has an as yet unconfirmed report that ‘the fire was started by a tree falling onto a powerline very near the intersection of Bold Point Road and Surge Narrows Road.  It burned uphill a short distance into a 20 year old woodlot. Forestry was on it with helicopters very quickly.  No evacuation alerts or orders were issued.’

Bellion stated, “I've heard that rumor as well at this point in time. The only thing I can see on our reports is that it is suspected to be human caused, and that would certainly fall into that category. anytime there's an interaction with fire and interface - power lines, any type of machinery like power lines or electricity, chainsaws, industrial activity - any of those would be human starts. Right now, I don't have any confirmation that it was a tree or wind. So all I can see on my report it was the suspected human caused. ”

This fire was first reported to BC Wildfire Service at 3:36 PM Thursday August 17th. 

CC: People are concerned because of the dryness of the islands. They're also concerned about the wind. Being as we're talking about a small fire, is there any reason to be overly concerned?

Bellion: “The province did see a dry cold front sweeping through yesterday and today, and it does bring increased winds. Those increased winds always have that potential for extreme fire behavior with this fire. Specifically, crews have worked hard to change that status to ‘being held’ and are working on that southern flank to mop up those little pockets of more active behavior. So we're feeling really great about that and we just remind everyone, especially when there's a wind event, and especially when we're coming off the back of a heat wave, to be cautious, to be careful, and to keep your eyes open.

So one of the ways folks can help us is to call us if they see smoke and report a wildfire using *5555 from a cell phone, or if they have the app downloaded on their phone, they can submit a photo directly from the app as well.

A news release from the SRD News service adds that “ at this time, there is no risk to critical infrastructure or homes and there are no evacuation orders or area restrictions. The roads are open and not currently impacted by the fire. However, residents and visitors are encouraged to avoid the area.”