Aftermath of Joe Rich fire

A wildfire in Joe Rich appears to have done the most damage to the first kilometre of Philpott Road.

Firefighters working at the scene believe the fire started in one location and strong winds caused it to jump to two other spots.

A tour of the area shows torched trees far into the forest from Philpott Road. Homes don’t start appearing until about three kilometres up.

“The majority of the activity you will see, smoke and the odd hot spots mostly visible at night, really will be in that centre area,” said Ben Wasyliuk, Fire Chief Joe Rich Fire Department.

“There has been a lot of work put in by the forestry crews, by our fire crews around the homes to make sure the perimeter of the fire is out and has moved back to a safe distance away from valuable property and from the ability to grow outside of that.”

A water supply area has been set up at Three Forks Road to allow water to be taken out of the creek by both fire department trucks and the Ministry of Forestry trucks.

“Eighteen homes have sprinklers set up on them,” said Darrell Belgrove, Divisional Supervisor for Philpott Fire.  "They are on high risk homes in the wooded areas, so these sprinklers are set up so they can start them up and evacuate the area.”

“Our activity will continue to decrease along with the fire behaviour and that could carry on for a little while,” said Wasyliuk. “Complete extinguishment isn’t actually our goal with this, our goal is to work from the perimeter of the fire in to a point that we feel it’s safe for the community,” he said.

There is not an expected date when Philpott Road residents can return home but progress is being made each day on the fire.