'It's worrisome': More firefighters arrive to battle out-of-control Cowichan Valley blaze

Victoria -

A wildfire burning out of control in the Cowichan Valley has prompted the BC Wildfire Service to send more firefighting personnel into the region Monday.

With hot, dry conditions in the forecast, the BC Wildfire Service is throwing as many resources as it can at the fire to get it under control. 

Approximately 46 firefighters and three helicopters were battling the 32-hectare Copper Canyon fire Monday morning. The fire crews are a mix of provincial wildfire personnel and contracted firefighters.

"I think I’d be more worried if they started moving in closer," said Mike Morgan, who lives on Mount Sicker Road just below Copper Canyon.

"You can see they’re really close against the mountain there," he said.

Morgan just spent the weekend in his workshop building model airplanes with the constant sound of helicopters flying overhead.

"It’s worrisome, it really is worrisome," said Morgan. "If we ever saw it come over that ridge, we’d have to get out of here. There’s no two ways about it." 

A local state of emergency remains in effect for the Mount Prevost area of the Cowichan Valley Regional District.

Dorothe Jakobson, a fire information officer for the Coastal Fire Centre, says there has been no growth in the fire since Friday and crews are working to maintain a perimeter around the blaze.

Though it hasn't grown, the fire was still classified as out of control Monday.

The Copper Canyon fire has been burning in remote, difficult terrain since Aug. 5. One property on Mount Prevost Road has been ordered to evacuate as a result of the wildfire.

Among the crews on the ground are several members of the BC Wildfire Service's "parattack" team, who parachuted into the remote area on Friday.

"So they can parachute down with equipment and they’re a self-contained unit working in the remote parts of that fire," said Jakobsen.

The Copper Canyon fire region on Monday, Aug. 9, 2021. (BC Wildfire Service)

Jakobson told CTV News over the weekend that it's the first time the parattack team has been deployed on Vancouver Island.

The tactic is used more commonly in northern B.C., she said, noting that the inaccessibility of the terrain where the Copper Canyon fire is burning made it a good candidate to be the island's first parattack site.

The wildfire is believed to be human-caused.