A pair of Mission firefighters are travelling north to help with an out-of-control wildfire.
Mission Fire Rescue Service (MFRS) captains Brian Hahn and Glen Weir will take one of the department’s water tankers to the almost 1,800-hectare Downton Lake wildfire in the Squamish-Lillooet area on Thursday morning (Aug. 3).
The fire has destroyed approximately a dozen properties as of Wednesday (Aug.2), according to the Canadian Press.
Hahn and Weir will join other fire departments from throughout the province as part of structural protection teams.
The blaze has garnered a full response from BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) and has led to evacuation orders in the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District.
As of the last update on Wednesday (Aug. 2), 50 BCWS personnel, additional contract crew, multiple helicopters and heavy equipment are responding to the fire.The wildfire is under the command of an incident management team.
The focus for Hahn and Weir will be structure protection.BCWS crews are not trained or equipped to fight structural fires, according to the agency’s website.
“However, we can deploy structure protection specialists whose function is to help protect homes and other types of buildings that may be threatened by wildfire,” the website reads.
MFRS firefighters recently contained the Hunter Hill wildfire near Cannell Lake in Mission, with help from Coastal Fire and the Mission Forestry Department.
The approximately five-hectare wildfire was deemed under control last Wednesday (July 26).
READ MORE: ‘Worst fears’ realized as homes burn in Southwest B.C. cottage country
ALSO: Mission wildfire near Cannell Lake under control
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dillon.white@missioncityrecord.com
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