Prescribed burn planned near Cranbrook’s Phillips Reservoir Wednesday

The City of Cranbrook says a prescribed burn is planed to begin near the Phillips Reservoir along Gold Creek Road Wednesday.

This is being done to reduce local wildfire risk and to promote ecological biodiversity over a 100 hectares section of land.

You can expect to see smoke from Cranbrook, ʔaq’am and surrounding areas.

Find a statement from the City, as well as a map of the burn area, below:

The City of Cranbrook, with support of the BC Wildfire Service and contractors, will conduct a prescribed burn starting Wednesday, October 5, 2022 along Gold Creek Road south of the Phillips Reservoir.

The controlled burn will be a large operation, as the fire will be ignited by helicopters, and treat approximately 100 hectares of land.

“This prescribed burn is taking place on City-owned land, south of the City, and forms an important piece of our larger, community wildfire protection strategy,” said Scott Driver, Director of Cranbrook Fire and Emergency Services. “We feel very fortunate that the weather this fall has cooperated so that we can continue to get this very important work completed.”

Due to the size of the burn, smoke will be visible from Cranbrook, ʔaq’am and surrounding areas.

The City is tackling this work as part of a larger coordinated effort to protect communities and infrastructure. The key goals of the prescribed burn include:

• reducing accumulations of dead wood and other combustible material;
• promoting ecological biodiversity by suppressing growth of regenerating trees and;
• reducing wildfire severity

Fire is a very normal and natural process in this ecosystem, and it is the City’s intention to return the landscape to a healthy, fire resistive state.

– Includes statement and photo from City of Cranbrook