With favourable weather and ongoing efforts from crews, the District of Squamish has cancelled its state of local emergency in relation to the Upper Squamish Valley fire.
As of today, April 22, the blaze has been reclassified as “under control,” meaning that, barring any freak weather changes, authorities believe the fire will not spread.
“They are very confident it’s not going anywhere,” said Marg Drysdale, an information officer with the BC Wildfire Service.
Prior to District of Squamish cancelling its state of local emergency, the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District had rescinded its evacuation order for the area days ago.
However, the SLRD has not lifted an evacuation alert for the Squamish Valley Road, from the Pilchuck Bridge to the northern end of Squamish Valley Road, both sides, and including all side roads in this area.
Drysdale, said that today, at most, the fire would reach a Rank 1, which describes smokey ground with no flames.
She said 35 firefighters would be working the fire today, even though there is some rain expected. It’s expected to be cloudy and rainy this week, with drier weather arriving on the weekend.
Crews will continue with mop-up work, which involves locating hot spots identified in thermal scans and snuffing them out.
However, due to the rain, they may be pulled away from sloping terrain, which becomes dangerous when wet.
Drysdale added that BC Hydro crews have mostly finished up their work on infrastructure in the area.
Yesterday, a checkpoint set up to keep non-residents out of the area was also lifted.
Regardless, Drysdale said it would still be best for people to avoid going to the valley unless essential, as crews are still working.
