By James Bowler

Garrick resident watches fire burn near Torch River

May 24, 2015 | 12:40 PM

A fire that has been threatening the RM of Torch River may be starting to die down.

This according to Ron Knutson who lives just north of Garrick and has been keeping track of the fire from his home.

Knutson said it started out really badly with a huge plume of smoke rising into the sky and tons of emergency vehicles flying by Friday and into Saturday.

“You name it, police vehicles, ambulances, mobile command centres, water bombers, helicopters,” Knutson said Sunday afternoon. “You name it they’ve thrown it at it.”

He added that when the fire was at its worst, the wind was blowing a lot of the smoke in their direction.

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“We were completely smoked out last night, it was just like a fog here,” said Knutson. “It was pretty hard to take.”

He said the wind is now blowing from the east, but it’s a lighter wind now and the smoke from the fire has diminished quite significantly.

“It’s considerably less than what it was yesterday,” said Knutson. “Today (Sunday) it’s just small, small columns.”

Although Joanne MacKinnon who lives northeast of White Fox says that there’s still a chance the fire could build up once again. 

“If a wind picks up right now which it could, whats going to happen is because it burned on such an angle, it may not blow it back into itself, it could blow it back into parts of the forest that haven’t even burned yet,” said MacKinnon. “The side on the east side of the grid road way back where it started, that’s still smoldering.” 

MacKinnon said the fire started just a few miles short of where she is living. 

“I’m four miles from the start point of the fire,” said MacKinnon. “It started on the White Fox grid, about a mile on the west side of the grid, and then it burned in there, jumped the grid and spread eastward, and it went about three miles.” 

She added that the fire came very close to a friend’s home and she and some family and friends spent the night with water trucks near the house to prevent the fire spreading any closer. 

MacKinnon said that while fire crews have worked tirelessly they have not been able to get the fire under control. 

“They couldn’t even guide it, its so bad and so thick and dry,” said MacKinnon. “So what they’ve done is they focused their efforts on saving the houses.” 

RM of Torch River has not confirmed the exact location of the fire or how big it is.  The ministry of environment would not comment on the location or size of the fire or confirm any other details at this time. 

According to Highway Hotline, Highway 35 from Highway 55 to Carroll’s Cove Access and Roads End is closed due to reduced visibility from fires in the area. For the most up-to-date information on road closures click here.

As of Saturday afternoon it was estimated to be about 225 hectares.

Around 8 p.m. Saturday evening the RM declared a local state of emergency and had reported that a number of residents had evacuated from the community and several roads were shutdown.

There is still no word on how the fire was started.

jbowler@panow.com

Twitter: @journalistjim