Region Archives: Canada West

BARKERVILLE, BC — The British Columbia gold rush town of Barkerville is drenched, both from overnight rains and sprinklers dousing its timber buildings, some more than 150 years old. It’s part of an effort to save the historic park that is one of the Cariboo region’s premier tourist attractions from the flames of the Antler Creek wildfire that is burning out of control about three kilometres away, said Stewart Cawood, Barkerville’s public programming and media manager. “Today is looking better with the rain that we had overnight, but with it being so close and fires being so unpredictable, even with all these protective measures in place, there’s absolutely a concern we could lose the town,” he said. …The town’s website says it features more than 125 heritage buildings, and it was declared a National Historic Site of Canada in 1924.

A wildfire at Sooke Potholes Regional Park first reported on Monday has grown to 50 hectares and is still burning out of control, says the Coastal Fire Centre. The fire, initially reported as three hectares in size, was first spotted at 3 p.m. on Monday east of Sooke River, in the northeast section of the park. Visitors and campers in the area were evacuated as a precaution, and the park was closed. Sam Bellion, fire information officer for Coastal Fire Centre, said the fire grew overnight due to sustained winds. “The winds did blow away some of the smoke, giving us a better aerial view of the fire.”  …The fire is believed to be human-caused. …The fire was about five kilometres from the region’s water-supply area by Tuesday afternoon, but is not currently deemed to pose a risk to the watershed or the tree canopy within it, the CRD said in a statement, citing fire behaviour, terrain and wind direction. 

UPDATE: The wildfire on the In-Shuck-Ch FSR is now “being held,” according to the BC Wildfire Service’s map. A “human-caused” forest fire is now burning 2.5 hectares near Pemberton, and is classed as “out of control.” An out-of-control wildfire is a fire that is “spreading or is anticipated to spread beyond the current perimeter or control line.” The fire is located on the In-Shuck-Ch FSR near Driftwood Bay at Lillooet Lake, approximately a 40-minute drive from Pemberton. The fire was discovered July 22 at about 1:30 p.m. Crews initially had the fire under control before it grew substantially overnight and regained its “out of control” status. Two crews from Lil’wat Forestry Ventures have rushed to the wildfire. Chief Cameron Adams of Pemberton Fire Rescue said at a Pemberton council meeting on Tuesday, July 23 that the blaze is suspected to be caused by campfire. His crew is ready to jump in and help if needed.

Thousands of wildfire evacuees forced from Jasper National Park into British Columbia along smoke-choked mountain roads Monday night were directed Tuesday to make a wide U-turn and head home if they needed a place to stay. Alberta fire officials said B.C. has its hands full with its own wildfires and evacuations. “The issue is the severity of wildfire activity and evacuations in B.C. proper,” Stephen Lacroix, managing director of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, told reporters during a video conference. “They had no capacity to house Albertans.” …Everyone in Jasper National Park — tourists, hikers, campers, boaters — along with 4,700 residents of the Jasper townsite were ordered out late Monday night as wildfires pinched off escape routes to the east and south. The result was a long, slow-moving line of cars and trucks heading west through the mountains to B.C. in darkness, swirling smoke, soot and ash.

An aerial image taken by the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) Monday, July 22 shows the extent of damage caused by the Williams Lake River Valley wildfire that continues to threaten the city. The fire is estimated at 40 hectares and is still considered out of control by the BCWS. The city is reporting, however, that crews are making significant progress on the fire. Evan Dean, director of protective services, said the Williams Lake Fire Department (WLFD), in coordination with the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS), as well as support from numerous other structural and wildland crews, gained ground containing Sunday’s fire. “Currently, crews are working on securing perimeter lines, as well as extinguishing hot spots,” Dean said. “Out of an abundance of caution, alerts remain in effect for the Mackenzie Avenue, Woodland, Westridge and Country Club areas, due to potential spotting or reignition cause by extreme weather.”

Additional coverage in the Castanet by Madison Reeve: B.C Wildfire Service reports the wildfire is classified as out of control

Victoria Times Colonist, by Canadian Press: Tactical evacuations, water use warnings issued as wildfire threatens Williams Lake

Black Press, by Angie Mindus: ‘We’re hitting it hard’: Crews fight Williams Lake wildfire from air, ground

A wildfire in Dry Creek is out of control and an evacuation alert has been put in place for the area. The fire was first discovered on July 18. BC Wildfire Services has updated the status of the fire as of July 22, stating that it has grown to 150 hectares. An evacuation alert is issued for the following areas, Highway 23 South from Cranberry Creek to Shelter Bay, and Shelter Bay to 12km on the Shelter Bay Forest Service Road. This evacuation alert is issued to prepare you to evacuate your premises or property should an evacuation order be made. Dry Creek is approximately 35 kilometres south of the City of Revelstoke.

Additional coverage in Revelstoke Review: Evacuation alert for Shelter Bay to Cranberry Creek

A wildfire burning on Mara Mountain has grown to 220 hectares, and access to the fire remains an issue, prompting firefighters in nearby Sicamous to prepare to defend the community. Inaccessible terrain kept BC Wildfire Service crews from working a 220-hectare fire burning near Sicamous on Monday. BCWS Information Officer Ayden Coray said no bucketing of the fire took place Monday, and steep terrain has made the fire inaccessible for ground crews. An update from the Columbia Shuswap Regional District advises the public that BCWS continues to monitor the wildfire.

Other BC evacuation news from Castanet: Sitkum Creek wildfire balloons to 350 hectares, evacuation alerts in place

About 4,700 residents of the Alberta mountain town of Jasper and visitors to Jasper National Park have been forced to evacuate after a wildfire roared into the area late Monday night. People were forced to flee west into British Columbia with little notice over mountain roads through darkness, soot and ash. Photos and video shared on social media depicted a long line of cars and trucks, headlights on, red tail lights blinking, heading out bumper-to bumper as the deep blue night sky darkened. …The Jasper townsite — and the park’s main east-west artery Highway 16 — were caught in a fiery pincer. Fires threatening from the northeast cut off highway access east to Edmonton. Another fire roaring up from the south forced the closure of the north-south Icefields Parkway. That left one route open — west to B.C. …The evacuation alert was sent just after 10 p.m. MT. The Municipality of Jasper declared a state of emergency shortly after.

Barbara Roden, mayor of Ashcroft, BC, says the area’s long-term care residents have been moved out as a fast-moving wildfire looms nearby. Ashcroft is about 360 kilometres northeast of Vancouver. Roden said Saturday that the community remains under an alert to be ready to evacuate on short notice. Roden said the anxiety among residents is “settling down a little bit” as the nearby Shetland Creek wildfire appeared to push northward Saturday. …Roden’s comments came as the Thompson-Nicola Regional District confirmed Venables Valley — just a few kilometres southwest of Ashcroft — has seen a number of structures destroyed by the Shetland Creek fire as of Saturday. …Meanwhile, the number of wildfires in British Columbia has flared up to more than 300, with more than half of those classified as out of control and about 70 started in the last 24 hours. The B.C. Wildfire Service said one of the primary drivers in the latest spike has been lightning.

The Cariboo Regional District Emergency Operations Centre issued an evacuation order Sunday afternoon citing the rapid growth over the weekend of the Antler Creek wildfire in B.C.’s central Interior. The emergency order encompasses 431 parcels in the Barkerville Area, covering 62,488 hectares, including the historic Barkerville town — the largest living history museum in western North America. The EOC has also extended the order for 33 parcels in the Bowron area, covering about 30,567 hectares to the east of Wells and part of the Bowron Lake Provincial Park. Earlier on Sunday, the District of Wells also declared a state of local emergency for the entire district, which is about 180 kilometres southeast of Prince George. …In the order signed by Mayor Ed Colemon, the wildfire is described as a “significant threat” to the health, safety and welfare of the community. Coleman told CBC News that about 1,000 people are impacted by the order.

EDMONTON, Alberta — Jason Saovord, his girlfriend, their kids and his girlfriend’s sister rolled into Edmonton early Sunday morning, having travelled hundreds of kilometres from northern Alberta to stay in a hotel for shelter. They are among thousands of people from Little Red River Cree Nation fleeing the Semo Complex wildfire, a group of out-of-control wildfires in the High Level forest area. An evacuation order was issued Saturday afternoon, as one of the fires encroached about two kilometres from Highway 58 — the one thoroughfare in the area. …Little Red River Cree Nation, which has about 5,500 members, is made up of three communities: Fox Lake, Garden River and John D’Or Prairie. Garden River was evacuated last week due to the wildfire, but the Alberta Emergency Management Agency issued an evacuation order for Fox Lake and John D’Or Prairie around 12:30 p.m. Saturday. …There are about 7,500 wildfire evacuees in Alberta. 

WILLIAMS LAKE, BC — Lightning-triggered wildfires over the weekend have prompted a number of evacuation orders and alerts across B.C., a situation that has been exacerbated the ongoing heat wave. The B.C. Wildfire Service said Sunday that crews are battling more than 300 blazes, with several evacuation orders in effect in both Central and East Kootenay as well as in Thompson-Nicola, Cariboo and Bulkley — Nechako in the northwest. …A local state of emergency was declared on Sunday night in Williams Lake, where the River Valley wildfire is burning within city limits. An evacuation alert has been issued for properties from the intersection of Highway 20 and Mackenzie Avenue to the Jackpine Sawmill Access Road on Mackenzie Avenue near Atlantic Power’s Williams Lake plant. …In the Central Kootenay, the community of Silverton also remained on alert Sunday while 107 properties south of the village were under an evacuation order due to the nearby Aylwin Creek wildfire.

The Thompson-Nicola Regional District has issued an evacuation order for 76 properties in the Venables Valley area north of Spences Bridge, B.C., due to the out-of-control Shetland Creek wildfire. The order issued at 10 p.m. last night says residents are to report to the emergency services reception centre at the community hall in nearby Cache Creek. Cook’s Ferry Indian Band has also expanded an evacuation order related to the same fire to include additional reserves along the Thompson River south of Ashcroft. The BC Wildfire Service says the Shetland Creek blaze has grown to more than 41 square kilometres in size, while the nearby Teit Creek blaze spans 249 hectares. …The forecast for Cache Creek, north of the Shetland Creek wildfire, shows a daily high of 40 C on Thursday, 38 C on Friday and 40 C over the weekend. The wildfire service says Wednesday’s storm sparked high-elevation fires through the Arrow and Kootenay Lake fire zones.

Alberta Wildfire is reporting another 47 wildfire starts in the past 24 hours as 150 wildfires burn across the province. Of the fires burning within Alberta’s wildfire protection areas, 51 are burning out of control, 34 are being held and 42 are under control. Much of Alberta remains under a heat warning as daytime highs are expected to reach between 28 and 36 C over the next 7 to 9 days. The fire danger is similarly elevated in many areas of the province, the majority falling under a very high danger with pockets of extreme fire danger. …About 20 per cent remain under investigation. …In the Wood Buffalo region, Janvier and Janvier First Nation 194 residents were put on evacuation alert Wednesday evening due to the threat of due to nearby wildfires. Residents are being told to be ready to evacuate on short notice. The largest wildfire in the province covers 82,709 hectares, one of two out-of-control wildfires in the Cattail Lake Complex.

The wildfire situation in the Central Interior will be at the mercy of the weather for the next few days. A warning for extreme heat issued Tuesday by Environment Canada remains in place for the region with the daytime high for Prince George forecast to hit 34 C on Thursday. A campfire ban for most of the province also remains in place. A risk of thunderstorms on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons is also in the cards. “Hot and dry conditions are set to continue into the latter half of the week into the weekend, with widespread thunderstorms and strong winds forecast for Friday and Sunday,” said B.C. Wildfire Service. Crews continue work to contain the wildfire that broke out last week in Ancient Forest-Chun T’oh Whudujut Provincial Park east of Prince George. The size of the fire remained listed as unchanged at 39 hectares but still out of control. 

Revelstoke, British Columbia — Helicopters responding to the out of control Wap Creek wildfire west of Revelstoke on Tuesday spotted another fire to the west in the Mount Griffin area. The new fire is suspected to have been started by a dry lightning strike and is estimated to be 0.1 hectares in size. “Crews were able to get on top of that right away, starting with a helicopter bucketing, and then the initial attack crew was sent out there,” said Cassidy Martin, BCWS fire information officer. “They are just seeing rank one behaviour, which is just a smouldering ground fire, no open flames,” she said. The fire is classified as out of control. The Wap Creek wildfire has remained the same size since Tuesday morning, estimated at about 4.2 hectares in size …The fire was first spotted on Monday at about 11 a.m., and covered about 2.1 hectares. It has since grown to cover 4.2 hectares.