By Shannon Lukens. (Courtesy photo.)

 

Part of the Craig Interagency Hotshot Crew is on a 14-day assignment in Canada, helping with the wildfires up there. This is day four for the 21-member Hotshot team from Craig. They took two Crew Carriers, one Superintendent Truck for the crew boss, and one Support Truck (a chase truck) to Canada.

Fire Management Superintendent Clay Harvey says the crew from Craig is on the Kimiwan Complex outside of Peace River, Canada. They are working for a California Type 1 Incident Management Team and working with the Bitterrot Interagency Hotshot Crew from Montana. Harvey writes, “It is a large fire but the have received some rain to help things out a bit.”

There are still engine crews in Craig and Meeker, in case of any fires here in Northwest Colorado. Two trucks are in Craig and three are in Meeker. The crew covers local and initial attacks with the Moffat County and Rio Blanco County fire crews along with the Department of Fire Prevention and Control.

The Craig Interagency Hotshot crew and engines are part of the Bureau of Land Management Colorado’s Northwest District and they support the Little Snake River Field Office, the Kremmling Field Office, and the White River Field Office.

AccuWeather says writes, “The majority of the area burned is located in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, three provinces that border the U.S. Alberta has recorded the largest area burned at over 950,000 hectares,” which is over 2,300 acres.  Reports are that nearly 100 wildfires have burned over one million acres. The wildfires are creating hazy skies over the United States and especially in Colorado.

Here’s more from 9News out of Denver, about why it was so smoky last weekend. “The National Weather Service (NWS) in Boulder said that “significant” wildfire activity in Canada, particularly in the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta where over 1 million acres have burned, would likely bring an increase in smoke for Colorado over the coming days.”