Crews make quick work of two local wildfires — Five Mile Creek and Above Syringa

The highly visible Skimmer Horn Mountain blaze continues to burn. — photo courtesy Southeast Fire Centre

Crews made quick work of two fires in the West Kootenay — Five Mile Creek and Above Syringa — that started Sunday according to the Southeast Fire Centre.

Both fires are now in the mop-up stages after fire crews, with the aid of helicopters, fully contained the blazes Wednesday.

Thirteen firefighters working on the ground at Five Mile Creek with the aid of three helicopters Tuesday got a handle on the blaze.

The same ground crew fully contained the fire with the assistance of one helicopter.

Size of the blaze is 1.6 hectares.

Near Castlegar the 1.5 hectare Above Syringa fire is also fully contained and is in the mop-up stage thanks to the work of 211 firefighters.

Both fires were started from lightning in the area Sunday.

Near Creston the Skimmer Horn Mountain blaze remains only 45 percent contained as steep terrain continues to slow progress.

The blaze is estimated at 56 hectares.

Thirty-two firefighters and six helicopters continue to battle the blaze that is highly visible to surrounding communities.

In the past week the Southeast Fire Centre has responded to 47 new wildfires, 43 of which were lightning caused.

This year the centre has responded to 95 fires, 34 per cent of which were human caused.

The Southeast Fire Centre urges the public to use extreme caution when frequenting the outdoors.

Person‐caused fires draw valuable resources away from naturally occurring fires.

With the increasing number of fires occurring across the centre, we ask the public to be careful so that resources can focus on naturally occurring wildfires.

The fire danger rating across most of the Southeast Fire Centre is moderate to high with pockets of extreme in the Arrow, Kootenay Lake, Boundary, Invermere and Cranbrook zones.