©BCWS

Another wildfire has cropped up near Poplar Creek on Wednesday, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service, as one of the largest wildfires in the West Kootenay continues to carve the tinder-dry forest. The Poplar Creek 2 wildfire is .3 hectares in size but is just three kilometres away from the 292.91-hectare Poplar Creek wildfire — both of which are listed as burning out of control by BCWS. Unlike its bigger brethren, the Poplar 2 wildfire has to play second fiddle to Poplar 1 as no resources have been committed to it. Across the West Kootenay, several other out-of-control wildfires continue to tax firefighting resources, including a wildfire discovered last week in the Evans Lake Ecological Reserve, part of the Valhalla Provincial Park, located 60 kilometres northwest of Nelson, that has grown to 202 hectares. “The Evans Lake wildfire is being managed with the goal of minimizing damage while maximizing ecological benefits from the fire,” said BCWS.