Northern Highway Closed by Fire Re-opens

Thursday, July 31, 2003 at 12:59

 

 

 

Provincial Fire Centre officials don’t anticipate recommending the future closure of a northern highway that was shut down earlier this week because of a forest fire.

 

The section of highway 155 that runs from Green Lake to Beauval was closed much of Tuesday and Wednesday before being re-opened yesterday afternoon.

 

Spokesman John Cook says fire crews have now surrounded about 70 per cent of the one-thousand hectare blaze. Cook thinks wind conditions today should blow the smoke away from the highway, as well as make it easier for the crews to completely surround the fire.

 

Cook also doesn’t expect a repeat of Tuesday, when officials briefly re-opened the road to traffic only to shut it down again later in the day.

 

The fire was started by a lightning strike on Monday, and at one point this week, jumped across the highway. About 150 fire fighters are currently working on that fire.