Officials with the Coastal Fire Centre continue to monitor a 26-hectare forest fire in Garibaldi Provincial Park northeast of Squamish.

As of Wednesday (Aug. 22), two helicopters were working to douse the blaze, 15 kilometres from town, with water buckets, said Marg Drysdale, the centre’s fire information officer.

“They are still comfortable with where they are going,” she said.

On Wednesday (Aug. 15), the centre was made aware of the fire near Culliton Creek that sent a giant plume of smoke into the air. The fire is burning in steep terrain. Air tankers were sent in and a line of flame retardant was placed in its path.

The centre’s officials believe the blaze is a “holdover fire” that has been smouldering since a lighting storm two weeks ago.

“They kind of pop up like popcorn,” Drysdale told The Chief on Aug. 16.

The weather is supposed to cool tomorrow (Aug. 24), she said, which may help firefighters with their battle.

The Coastal Fire Centre and B.C. Parks are taking a “modified response to the fire,” Drysdale said. That means they will let it burn unless it exceeds certain set trigger points.

This “modified response” policy runs counter to traditional practices in which all forest fires are bad, Drysdale said.

“People’s ideas were that fire was damaging,” she noted.

However, forest fires are naturally occurring events and in many cases are needed to rejuvenate vegetation, Drysdale said.

The fire poses no threat to people or property, she noted.