B.C. wildfire crews hopeful heavy rain in forecast will dampen enormous Donnie Creek blaze

Crews fighting British Columbia's largest recorded wildfire are hoping a heavy, prolonged rainin the forecastcan help them turn the corner on the massive blaze.

Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for thenortheastern corner of the province, where the Donnie Creek fire has burned close to 6,000 square kilometres of land.

The weather statement says a low-pressure system over Alberta will interact with the easternRockies, creating up to 70 millimetres of rain in northeastern B.C. through Thursday morning.

Prince George Fire Centre information officer Julia Caranci says the rain in the forecast is very good news, but the B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS)remains cautious because it may not fall evenly across the large area of the fire.

The Donnie Creek fire is the largest blaze on record in the 102-year history of provincial firefighting efforts, and its
massive size helped lift B.C. to a record wildfire season for area burned which currently stands at almost 15,000 square kilometres.

Despite the rain, crews carried out a number of planned ignitions around the fire on Sunday, covering the northwest corner of the blaze, the BCWS said in a tweet.

It said the ignitions solidified containment lines against the fire, and Caranci says crews will now wait until this week's rain has passed before reassessing and determining ifadditional burns are necessary or possible.

While the rainfall will help, Caranci says current BCWS estimates show the precipitation will not be season-endingfor the northern region's wildfires, and theDonnie Creek blaze is still anticipated to be active into the fall.

Still, Caranci says the rain will likely dampen things downover the next seven to 10 days, allowing firefighters some breathing room.

She says it will give them time to make headway on smaller objectives for their overall plan, since attacking a fire of this size requires them to fight portions of the blaze at a time.