Region Archives: Canada West

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.

The Cook’s Ferry Indian Band has issued an evacuation order north of Spences Bridge due to a pair of out-of-control wildfires burning in the B.C. Interior. The evacuation comes as new heat warnings are posted across B.C., which could fuel the growth of new and existing fires, said officials. Chief Christine Walkem said the evacuation order applies to Reserve #6 — Nicoelton. The order was issued due to the “imminent danger” of two wildfires burning out of control — K70910 (Shetland Creek) and K70913 (Teit Creek) burning 7.5 kilometres and 5.5 kilometres north of Spences Bridge, respectively. Cook’s Ferry Indian Band Fire Chief Steven Sherwood said the evacuation order does not affect any community members and has been issued solely for livestock in the area, which is a licensed grazing zone. …”Livestock there is a dire importance to the band and the communities here at Cook’s Ferry.”

Additional coverage in CFJC Kamloops Today: Wildfires burning north of Spences Bridge experiencing notable growth

An active wildfire visible from the Trans-Canada Highway between Chilliwack and Hope has closed the eastbound lane for about five kilometres, according to DriveBC, even as crews from Australia and New Zealand make their way to B.C. to help battle the roughly 150 wildfires across the province. The province’s driver information service says the one-hectare fire, which was discovered Monday, is between Exit 146 and Exit 151. It said those on the roads should “expect delays.” …The BCWS also says the fire was suspected to have been caused by human activities, either intentionally or accidentally. Despite all the radio, TV and social media posts spreading the news about the campfire ban on Friday, the Chilliwack Fire Department said that its crews attended several campfires over the weekend to put them out and issue fines. …The highway blaze is one of around 150 wildfires burning across the province…

The “only inland temperate rainforest in the world” is in danger from growing wildfires. Multiple fires are active in the area of the Ancient Forest or Chun T’oh Whudujut Provincial Park, known for its 1,000-year-old trees. It’s located about an hour east of Prince George and has been closed to the public since July 10. As of Monday morning, one of the fires stood at 40 hectares in size, up from 10 hectares when it was first spotted last week. A lightning strike is the suspected cause. Crews have set up a helicopter landing pad and water relay system, but the efforts face challenges based on the rugged nature of the park. “The park’s terrain, ecological and cultural values have challenged fire suppression efforts, particularly on the southern flank,” the service stated. The park is located on Lheidli T’enneh territory and has played a key role in the First Nation’s culture and history.