Hundreds under evacuation order in B.C. as wildfires grow

Hundreds of British Columbians remain on evacuation order Monday morning as around 360 wildfires burn throughout the province. 

They include all residents of the village of Slocan, a community of about 380 people in a part of southeastern B.C. where several out-of-control wildfires are burning, including two wildfires of note — fires that are highly visible or are threatening public safety.

DriveBC says Highway 6 along Slocan Lake remains closed for a nearly 40-kilometre stretch from south of Slocan to just beyond New Denver to the north.

Dan Seguin with the Regional District of Central Kootenay’s Emergency Operations Centre said Monday morning it was a busy weekend for his team, having issued an evacuation alert for Slocan on Saturday that was upgraded to an evacuation order Sunday morning. 

By the time the order was in place, more than half of Slocan residents had already left, Seguin said. 

“It’s hard to leave home,” Seguin told CBC’s Daybreak Kamloops host Shelley Joyce.

“We got that early advance warning from the B.C. Wildfire Service … and that gave residents enough time to pack up, make sure their house was in order and make that decision to leave early.”

Jason Lawler, an incident commander for an Australian team working in the area, said challenging terrain, dry fuel and smoke in the region has made work difficult for crews in the area. 

“Over the next few days it’s critical for us to keep our eyes on the weather conditions,” he said in a video posted to social media by the B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS). 

Forecasting rain

According to Environment Canada, there is a chance of showers for the area on Monday. 

The BCWS says rain and cooler temperatures in recent days have improved fire behaviour in some areas, but a number of communities are still under threat.

An overview of the fire situation on Monday morning shows there are more than 1,500 people fighting wildfires and 210 people engaged in structure protection in B.C. right now.

There are more than 360 fires currently burning in B.C. Almost half of them are deemed out of control, and about 90 per cent of active blazes were caused by lightning.

According to BCWS information officer Jaedon Cooke, the majority of the out-of-control blazes are located in the Southeast Fire Centre.

She said this is not surprising because the area has continued to experience relatively warm temperatures with low relative humidity, though cooler temperatures and rainfall are supposed to reach the region by the end of the week.

Cooke added that B.C. is forecast to see a return to warming and drying conditions throughout the province at the end of this week and going into next week. 

Elsewhere in the province

There are six wildfires of note in the province. 

One of them is the Shetland Creek wildfire, which is around 70 kilometres west of Kamloops and has forced several evacuation orders and alerts for the surrounding area. It has now grown to nearly 250 square kilometres.

The Thompson-Nicola Regional District issued a new evacuation order for a few properties south of Spences Bridge on Sunday, and expanded an evacuation alert to include 152 additional properties for that same area due to the huge blaze. 

A wildfire in Sooke Potholes Park also grew over the weekend, as predicted by wildfire officials. As of Monday morning it is now estimated at 2.3 square kilometres in size. 

Wildfire service announce planned ignitions

The BCWS says it will be doing a planned ignition on the north side of the Calcite Creek wildfire on Monday if conditions are “favourable.”

The BCWS also announced a small planned ignition for the Dogtooth fire, located around 20 kilometres southeast of Golden, B.C., if conditions are favourable. The service warns that smoke from the ignition will be “highly visible” to the communities of Parson and Castledale, as well as those on Highway 95.