The wildfire season in B.C. has been transformed in a flash, with lightning strikes sending the tally of blazes burning in the province past 100.
On Wednesday morning the province’s firefighters faced only about 20 blazes in what had been a relatively quiet season, but as of Saturday morning there were about 115 fires burning, including about 77 started in the last 24 hours.
Two-thirds of the fires are burning out of control and most new blazes, orders and alerts are concentrated in the southern B.C. Interior.
But Attila Banhegyi remains unfazed after choosing to remain behind in his house in Boston Bar, B.C., near the Brunswick Creek fire with an area of 40 square kilometres and the Ainslie Creek fire with an area of 160 square kilometres.
The community of around 160 people in B.C.’s Fraser Canyon was ordered to evacuate on Thursday, but Banhegyi says he has remained behind out of “convenience and necessity” because he needs to look after his two businesses and animals, including 12 chickens.
He says the local restaurant and gas station are still open, as is the motel, which is housing the firefighting crews.
Banhegyi says he estimates that somewhere between 40 and 50 per cent of Boston Bar has remained behind.
“It depends on the person, but the people who have stayed behind are in good spirits,” he says.
“We have grown to be self-sufficient in many aspects,” he says. “So we like to exercise self-governance, and sometimes being told what to do in our local area by people who aren’t on the ground doesn’t necessarily align with our own values.”
He says that he is ready to leave on a moment’s notice, adding that his wife and their two children, a 3 1/2-year-old girl, and a 3 1/2-month old boy, left town the day before the evacuation order.
The Boston Bar resident says current conditions in his community are “nice and quiet,” adding that he can hear local birds chirp.
Fire activity has picked up across the province. The B.C. Wildfire Service has attributed the vast majority of the new fires to the 4,000 lightning strikes it says hit the province that day.
The eruption of fire activity has also seen an increase in evacuation orders and alerts.
The most recent figures from B.C. Wildfire Service say about 575 properties across B.C. are subject to evacuation orders, with about 1,740 more on evacuation alert. It says about 399 people are receiving emergency support services.
Wildfire near Pemberton being held
The Signal Hill Wildfire, which on Saturday afternoon was burning a few kilometres away from Pemberton, B.C., a community of around 3,600 people, has been classified as being held.
However, the Village of Pemberton says evacuation alerts covering the community and parts of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District remain in place. An evacuation order is also in effect for One Mile Lake Park to give crews safe working space.
An update from the village said cooler temperatures, higher humidity and lighter winds have helped subdue the blaze, but it also warned of a warming and drying trend that will continue into next week.
Popular provincial park evacuated
On Friday, an out of control wildfire in B.C.’s southern Cariboo prompted an evacuation order for about 130 properties around the Big Bar Lake area, a popular fishing and camping destination.
The Fiftynine Creek wildfire is burning southeast of the lake and has grown to an estimated size of about 4,000 hectares (40 square kilometres) and is believed to be caused by a lightning strike.
Those evacuated included campers at the Big Bar Lake Provincial Park campground. Colton Davies, with the district, says the campground has about 50 sites and was close to full.
“The evacuation went fairly orderly and no issues that we’re aware of, everybody was able to get out safely,” he said.
Jason Lutterman was camping in the area with friends when lightning began and soon they could see a plume of smoke rising from the forest across the lake.
“You could tell with the wind, with the plume, and just the behaviour of it that this was going to be worse,” he said.
Lightning strikes have sparked dozens of new wildfires across B.C. this weekend. As of Saturday afternoon, the province says there are more than 100 active fires, with about 80 starting over the past 24 hours. Hundreds of people have been forced from their homes, while nearly 2,000 more properties are under evacuation alert.
Lutterman said the group packed and headed out as firefighting aircraft began dropping water nearby. By Saturday morning, they were safely back home in Blind Bay, on the south shore of Shuswap Lake.
“One minute you’re just swimming in the lake and the next you’re driving out of a road that’s on fire,” he said. “We went from something that didn’t exist to a real concern within hours.”
Other fires in the Cariboo
On Saturday afternoon, the district ordered two addressed properties to evacuate due to the French Bar Creek wildfire, burning just west of the Fiftynine Creek fire. These were in addition to one unaddressed property it ordered to evacuate Thursday.
Davies said the two properties evacuated on Saturday both belong to the Empire Valley Ranch.
A large nearby area of grass and forest land with no properties on it is also under evacuation alert, according to Davies.
A wildfire — that doubled in size overnight — continues to burn near Pemberton as hundreds of residents remain on evacuation alert. The B.C. Wildfire Service says dry conditions and severe lightning have sparked more fires, with the number of active wildfires in the province now close to 100.
Jim Smith, who represents the evacuated area at the regional district, says the fire grew very quickly because of the strong winds in the area.
“It wasn’t long in between the [evacuation] alert and the order,” he says. “The fire just roared right up to Big Bar Lake. So we are expecting that there is going to be structural loss, but we are not sure at this time.”
Smith says most of the evacuated properties lie on the northern side of the lake, with a few ranches and farms in the area.
“There is a fair amount of livestock, and I believe they started moving as soon as the alert was on,” Smith says.
The Cariboo Regional District triggered an evacuation due to the Bowers Lake fire on Friday, as well as an alert for the Lessard Lake fire.
Northeast of the Fiftynine Creek fire, 12 properties near South Green Lake are also under evacuation alert because of the Tin Cup Creek wildfire, which has now been classified as under control.
Weather warnings
Earlier this week, fire officials warned of a weather system bringing lightning and ideal conditions for both starting and spreading significant fires on B.C.’s parched landscape.
The Fiftynine Creek fire, for example, was only detected on Friday, but by that evening had already grown to about 40 square kilometres.
An update from the wildfire service on Friday said that as the weather system moved into Alberta, officials anticipated more lightning strikes “and, in the coming days, more fire starts.”
Environment and Climate Change Canada has issued severe thunderstorm warnings for the Cariboo region as well as the Peace River and Fort Nelson regions Saturday afternoon and evening.
It has also issued air quality warnings for much of B.C.’s southern Interior, including the Fraser Canyon, South Thompson, 100 Mile House, Okanagan, and Boundary areas.
It said these areas are impacted by wildfire smoke over the weekend, and warns of reduced visibility. It recommends people reduce strenuous outdoor activities and to stay indoors in a space with clean air.
There is also a heat warning in effect for the Fort Nelson region through to the middle of next week.
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