The wildfire situation in the Central Interior will be at the mercy of the weather for the next few days.
A warning for extreme heat issued Tuesday by Environment Canada remains in place for the region with the daytime high for Prince George forecast to hit 34 C on Thursday. A campfire ban for most of the province also remains in place.
A risk of thunderstorms on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons is also in the cards.
"Hot and dry conditions are set to continue into the latter half of the week into the weekend, with widespread thunderstorms and strong winds forecast for Friday and Sunday," B.C. Wildfire Service said in a posting.
Meanwhile, crews continue to work on containing the wildfire that broke out last week in Ancient Forest-Chun T'oh Whudujut Provincial Park, about 115 kilometres east of Prince George,
The size of the fire remained listed as unchanged at 39 hectares but still out of control. The park remains closed to the public.
"Where growth has occurred, this has been primarily upslope and into the more alpine terrain (spruce, balsam). Suppression efforts, with the support of helicopter bucketing, have been effective despite the challenging terrain and extreme slope onsite," B.C. Wildfire Service said in an update posted Wednesday afternoon.
"Bucketing efforts have focused on the north, east and west flanks (U-shape) to protect natural features (e.g. drainages) and to keep the fire from moving downhill."
Assessors and fallers are working to provide safe access for crews at the southeast corner where a helipad has been established. Crews are also working on a helipad on the northeast corner and establishing a fuel-free zone on the south flank and a hoselay on the perimeter, the posting reads.
"Priority objectives are to establish safe access for crews and to continue work on the east and west flanks to protect the drainages, ensuring that the fire doesn't move downslope towards the highway."
The Cornish Mountain fire near Wells and Barkerville held steady at 70 hectares as of Wednesday morning and an evacuation alert issued by the District of Wells remained in effect. The Barkerville Historic Town remained open.
The fire remained listed as a smouldering ground fire.
"Guard is completed with a fuel free established around entire perimeter," BCWS said in a posting. "Ground crews are making good progress and are continuing to complete a wet line around the perimeter of the fire. Danger tree assessment and falling is being completed as required. A thermal scan was completed and ground crews are using this to identify priority areas that have more heat.
"Today, structure protection personnel are demobilizing equipment. Residents should expect to see personnel working to remove any sprinklers that were deployed."
Smoke from major wildfires to the south is forecast to reach Prince George at about midday Thursday and cover the city's sky in a slight haze for most of the afternoon, modelling from FireSmoke.ca is showing.
Whether it will have much effect on the city's air quality is questionable. Environment Canada listed the health risk from the city's air quality at low and was forecast to remain at that level through Thursday.
