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Crews challenged by mountaintop wildfire west of Nanaimo

Nine-hectare wildfire in Green Mountain area classified as out-of-control
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A mountaintop fire in the Green Mountain area southwest of Nanaimo is challenging for crews to access. (B.C. Wildfire Service photo)

A fire on a mountaintop southwest of Nanaimo is creating challenges for B.C. Wildfire crews.

The Green Mountain wildfire, in the Nanaimo River area, was first reported in the early afternoon Friday.

Dorthe Jakobsen, fire information officer with the Coastal Fire Centre, said it’s believed the fire started from a lightning strike during the thunder storm early Friday morning.

Jakobsen said the fire was estimated at eight hectares on Friday night and nine hectares Saturday morning.

Access to the mountaintop location, she said, is “terrible,” but there are air tankers, four helicopters, heavy equipment and crews at the scene.

A second wildfire in the Green Mountain area was identified Saturday and added to B.C. Wildfire Service’s website.

Jakobsen said lightning will be worrisome in the August heat after what has been a cool, COVID-19-locked-down summer.

“We’ve had a very quiet summer,” Jakobsen said. “We have had some abandoned campfires, but not a lot.”

READ ALSO: B.C. tackles wildfire prediction, new strategies to respond



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A B.C. Wildfire Service map showing the approximate location of a wildfire in the Green Mountain area southwest of Nanaimo (B.C. Wildfire Service image)


About the Author: Greg Sakaki

I have been in the community newspaper business for two decades, all of those years with Black Press Media.
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