The mayor of Fort Nelson, B.C., says that he’s optimistic that favourable weather conditions helped crews in the area on Tuesday, as the Parker Lake wildfire continues to grow just west of town.

While the fire grew from 53 to 84 square kilometres over the course of Monday, B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS) information officer Morgan Blois says previously predicted strong winds did not materialize overnight Monday.

“Those winds were a little bit calmer than expected and moved away from town, taking the fire with it,” Blois said on CBC’s The Early Edition Tuesday morning.

Blois said Tuesday’s forecast shows continued calm as firefighters focus on keeping the perimeter of the blaze away from Fort Nelson. The flames remained about 2.5 kilometres outside of town.

“We are really hoping that we can take advantage of this little lull in fire behaviour, and really get some good suppression done,” said Blois.