Rob Moore peered out the helicopter window at the swirls of smoke rising from the steep forested slopes and concluded Monday's controlled burn of about 80 hectares was a success.
But the fire protection officer for the B.C. Forest Service is under no illusion that the battle to extinguish southern B.C.'s largest wildfire is close to an end.
The human-caused blaze started May 29 near Pearson Pond, a kidney-shaped body of water located near the west end of Carpenter Lake, and has spread generally north and eastward to encompass 8,000 hectares
No homes have been destroyed in the blaze, although evacuation orders are now in place for Marshall Lake, Liza Lake and Carol Lake. Tyaughton Lake, Gun Creek Road, and Mud Creek have been downgraded to evacuation alerts.
Although the blaze is now 70 per cent under control, Moore said the area is going to remain vulnerable to flare-ups for months in what is shaping up as an especially hot and dry fire season.
"It started the size of a pizza," Moore said of the fire, noting dry conditions in the forest are seven weeks ahead of normal. "We can't turn our backs on this fire. It will have to be monitored all summer."
Crews executed a controlled burn among steep slopes of Douglas fir on the south side of Marshall Lake, an area of about 20 recreational homes.
Wind, weather, terrain, and dryness of the forest all have to be considered in a controlled burn.
The idea is to remove unburned sections of forest under controlled conditions before the wildfire gets to it.
Helicopters are employed to drop Flash 21, a fuel gelling agent, in steep forests where firefighters would be at risk of becoming trapped.
Dan Levesque, forest protection assistant, said the daily cost of battling the blaze now exceeds $400,000, including about 360 firefighters, nine helicopters, and 35 pieces of heavy equipment such as water tank trucks, bulldozers and excavators.
That's down from more than $1 million a day at the height of the fire.
An estimated $175 million worth of private property and Crown timber are at risk in the area.
http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/...ad1f9e&k=17467 
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