The incident management team responsible for controlling the wildfires near Little Fort is aware of the threat to the power-line that services the upper North Thompson Valley (as well as Valemount and McBride), said Shannon Bond, a spokesperson for the team.

The work is being given a high priority, she said.

Efforts to protect the power-line continued Saturday morning using helicopters to drop water on the area. There are no ground crews or heavy equipment working that section of the fire, she said.

Many of the slopes the Thuya Lake fire is on are too steep for crews or equipment to work safely, she said.

Bond noted that the incident management team is from Parks Canada.

A tongue of the Thuya Lake fire southwest of Little Fort works its way downhill on Friday afternoon, getting perilously close to the BC Hydro power-line that services the upper North Thompson Valley. During the wildfires of 2003 the power-line was cut south of Barriere, leaving the valley without power for some time. Having adequate electricity would be important for keeping Clearwater’s and other water systems charged to help combat any fire inside a community. In the foreground is one of two helicopters that were dropping buckets of water on the blaze. The photo was taken from the Little Fort ferry using a telephoto lens.