Mount Seymour Fire
July 2023

This page documents the fire on Mount Seymour as it happened. These updates were originally posted on the BCA home page as the event happened.

July 12: Just after 4pm, a fire was reported on Mount Seymour approximately 3 km north east of Blueridge. Extensive work by helicopters and aircraft kept it from growing substantially while a ground crew was assembled and began hiking to the scene.

The best information we have found so far is this North Shore news article.

The winds have been calm and the fire is not spreading rapidly at this time. It is reported to be about 0.3 hectares in size.

July 13, 7:15 am: Aircraft left the area yesterday evening and have not yet returned. The fire is responding to suppression efforts and a ground crew is on scene and worked the fire overnight. It continues to be listed as 0.3 hectares in size. The cause is still unknown. Useful information is coming from:

If you know of additional sources of accurate information about this fire, please email them to webmaster@blueridgeca.org so they can be included here.

July 13, 10:45am: According to a post in the Blueridge Neighbours Facebook group (you must be a group member to view the post) made by DNV Mayor Mike Little, “The fire is out, but due to lots of underground organics, ground crews will be on site for days.” He also indicates helicopters will be supporting the ground crews with water deliveries during this time.

As of this writing, the BC Wildfire Services page has not been updated since last night, so the mayor’s information appears to be the most recent. A few news stories have been updated this morning, but none of those yet say the fire is out or even controlled. Your editor will continue monitoring the situation.

July 13, 4:30pm: At a press briefing this afternoon, reporters were told the fire “will not spread anymore.” Crews are still working the incident, and helicopters are bringing in water and tools. As previously stated, expect crews and equipment to be working on this for some time to be sure everything below ground is actually extinguished.

The BC Wildfire Service incident page now lists the cause as “human” but at the press briefing there was some caution about that. Apparently trees in the area showed evidence of being hit by lightning. Additionally, the size is still shown as 0.3 hectares, and the status is still “out of control” as of the 2:04pm update of that page.

For more information, see:

July 14, 7:00am: None of the links in previous updates have been revised at this time, so everything continues as before. An update to the BC Wildfire Service page will probably happen later today.

The only new source of official information that came up today is this news page from the District of North Vancouver, which was updated at 5:00pm last night. However at this time it only repeats what the other sources say.

July 14, 10:20am: The BC Wildfire Service incident page now says the fire is “being held.” Nothing else has changed at this time.

July 19: The fire on Mt Seymour is now listed as being “out” by the BC Wildfire Service. That means suppression efforts are complete.

Additionally, it turns out there was a hut built in the area of the fire, according to this NSNews article. Despite the incident page saying the fire was human caused, the article stresses that has yet to be determined.

July 28, from a press briefing:

  • There is still no final determination of the cause, but apparently the Wildfire Service is leaning towards it being started by people rather than lightning.
  • Of 183 fires in the coastal region this year, 121 of them have been human caused.
  • On average there are only 35 wildfires a year in our region, and our 10-year average is less than 90 fires per year.
  • So far this year we’ve seen more human caused fires than the average number fires of all kinds in a full year.
  • 36 wildfires continue to burn in the coastal region at this time.
  • Recent rains were a welcome relief. We received the month’s entire average rainfall in 48 hours, which should reduce wildfire risk for about two weeks and give the Wildfire Service time to get the remaining fires out before the risk goes back up.

Many thanks to Ellison Mallin from MLA Susie Chant’s office for providing a summary of this briefing.

Aug 2: From a North Shore News Article:

  • The cause of the Mt Seymour fire is officially listed as “undetermined.”
  • No specific cause of the fire has been identified, though there is evidence that humans were using the hut in the area of the fire.
  • There is no evidence of natural causes.
  • This leads investigators to suspect it was started by humans.
  • Apparently there are 50 – 100 other cabins in the area. It seems these were created many years ago. There are plans to remove them, but no timeline as of yet.

Nov 8: While reviewing this data and the associated links, it was discovered that the listed cause for this fire is now “human” on the official incident page. It is not clear when the BC Wildfire Service updated the page to say that.