Jasper National Park (JNP) fire managers are gearing up  to perform a burnout operation late this week on the Mt. Cumnock wildfire.

After high winds and warmer temperatures brought the wildfire north of the Jasper town site back to life last week, fire growth has been kept to a minimum due to water bucketing efforts by park fire managers, a mix of cooler temperatures and rain over the weekend. Remaining at about 300 hectares in size, the fire continues to burn slightly into the western fringe of the Snake Indian Valley, where fire managers are hoping to use a wide avalanche slope to act as a natural barrier to the fire.

Kim Weir, fire communications officer with JNP, says they hope to light a fire along the inside edge of the avalanche slope and burn the remaining natural fire fuel between that edge and the edge of the current fire.

“We’re making plans to move forward with that if we deem it necessary and if we get the correct conditions,” she added.

Lighting the fire will give fire managers more control over when the fire burns, where it burns and how intensely it burns. Weir says they need decent fire behaviour, but they don’t want it so dry that they end up in extreme fire danger when they do it.

To help contain the burnout area, a sprinkler system will be set up the avalanche slope on the far north eastern perimetre, and they will use a creek at the bottom to contain what they want to burn out, which goes all the way to the current Mt. Cumnock fire’s perimeter.

Because of the complex terrain in the area, the burnout will be lit from a heli-torch.

“The heli-torch is remotely controlled by the helicopter pilot, so when the helicopter is hovering over an area that they want to light up, he can press a button, and the fuel drops out of the torch and ignites at the same time. So basically it’s dropping burning fuel onto the forest, dropping flames basically,” Weir says, but only if they get the right forest conditions.

Performing the burnout operation will burn the natural forest fuel that will prevent a future, uncontrolled fire, while at the same time allowing the forest to recycle and encourage new growth in the future.

As of Friday, the area closure will be expanded along the Celestine Rd. and has been closed off at the Snaring campground. The area is moderately used by backcountry hikers, bikers and horseback riders due to it’s easy, seven kilometre access.

The burnout will likely cause quite a bit of smoke that will be noticed by residents in the Hinton, Brule and surrounding area, and along Highway 16, but Weir says it shouldn’t be a problem. Signs have been erected along highway 16 alerting drivers of the smoke.

She says the smoke that people in Jasper have seen in town recently is not from prescribed burns or the Mt. Cumnock fire, but from the wildfires in British Columbia.