Thanks Auntie Barb for this update.....
(dated September 1, 2003)

Fire crews are busy as bees in the East Kootenay.
The most worrisome fire, the Lamb Creek fire is nearly 11 thousand hectares. It's grown about three hundred hectares in the past couple of days.

Incident commander Bob Pfannenschmidt says the main pressure point is Monroe Lake and the highway.
They have crews working that area with CATs as well as a section in the Lumberton area.
Pfannenschmidt says crews will try to take out another 200 hectares today. They have control lines, and are letting fire come down to them. There is 0 per cent containment of the fire.
Wind is expected to be from the north and northwest Monday and Tuesday, between 10 and 20 killow-metres an hour.

**The Plumbob Mountain Fire had a bit of action yesterday, when the fire jumped a guard, burning about 20 hectares. Crews had burned off about 80 per cent of the fire at this one location, when the wind shifted. Pfannenschmidt says the blaze is within secondary and cursory guards. He says the fire is 55 per cent contained, and 30 per cent controlled. Evacuees were allowed to go home yesterday.

The fire 15 killow-metres north of Creston at Kuskonook Creek grew to about 400 hectares. 56 people in 27 homes are on evacuation ALERT. Fire information officer Geoff Green says the fire has NOT come any closer to homes.
He says the blaze is about one and a half kilometres from the nearest structure, but is burning away from homes, upslope.
Green says fire likes to burn uphill, and there is lots of available and continues fuel for it to burn.

The Cummings Creek blaze, 15 km NW of Sparwood is now about 780 hectares in size. The fire guard built on the east flank has held, and the fire has not spread any further towards the Elk Valley.
The majority of the fire is in rugged and very inaccessible terrain at high elevation. Much of the fire is being held within natural boundaries in the Cummings Creek drainage and will burn itself out.

Staff Sergeant Grant Learned says evacuees worried about property at their homes will be glad to know there are NO reports of any stolen items or illegal access.
Learned says officers handed out four tickets yesterday to travellers on highway 3 near Moyie. He says two tickets were for speeding. He says it's extremely dangerous to go too fast...not only because it's smoky and traffic is clogged..but also because of the wildlife. Grant says there are lots of elk and deer. Again, a reminder not to park or stop along that section of road. You face a hefty fine.

On a lighter note, the fire fighters who received a visit from Scott Neidermayer and Lord Stanley's cup are getting their pictures back. They're still really excited, and very thankful to have had the chance to see the cup first-hand.

If you have any questions about the fire situation in the East Kootenay, call the fire information line at: 420-4211 / 420-4212. And just one note for those wanting to travel back to Alberta today, highway 93 south IS open. Sunday, it was closed for about three hours because fire crews were doing some burnoff between castle juncion and radium. but again, highway 93 south is open 24/7.


Residents on the east side of Kootenay Lake are now on evacuation ALERT. It was issued Sunday, August 31st.
It's for those residents from Kootenay Lake east along Boulder Creek for two killow-metres, then northwest paralleling highway 3A to Jansen Creek, then along Jansen Creek to Kootenay Lake.
The alert is so residents can get critical belongings together in case they have to evacuate at a later time.