FORT ST. JOHN -- The Donnie Creek wildfire has grown to over 118,000 hectares expanding evacuation orders and alerts in northeast B.C.
According to B.C. Wildfire, the Donnie Creek, West Conroy Creek, Katah Creek and Hockey Creek fires have combined to form one fire.
The Peace River Regional District has issued an evacuation order north of the Beatton River on the Tommy Lakes Road and the Beatton Airport Road, north of Grewatsch Creek on PDR 22 and extends north to the border with the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality.
There are also alerts in the area of Nig Creek and north of Nig Creek on the Beatton Airport Road, north of 24 km on Tommy Lakes Road and east of Highway 97 from Mile 120 to Trutch. This includes all areas within 20 km of the Donnie Creek Evacuation Order Area.
The region says that they will provide residents with as much advance notice as possible before evacuation; however, this may be limited due to changing conditions.
The fire is burning out of control 136 kilometres southeast of Fort Nelson.
Northerly winds are pushing the fire in a southern direction. The extremely dry weather can lead to extremely active fire behaviour.
The overhanging smoke will help reduce temperatures and minimize fire activity.
Firefighters are working on the south flank of the fire to protect nearby structures. There are 11 personnel on the ground, as well as eight helicopters assigned to the incident.
The fires are being monitored with aerial resources, overhead scanning as well as high-level scanning.
Also a part of that complex, the Klua Lake fire has grown to 18,263 hectares. The Muskwa River fire has exploded in size to 6,297 hectares.
