The British Columbia Wildfire Service is warning that incoming winds are expected to drive an out-of-control wildfire towards the community of Kelly Lake, about 80 kilometres south of Dawson Creek.
Karley Desrosiers, an information officer with the service, told a briefing hosted by the Peace River Regional District that ``conditions in the coming days will be dangerous’’ for the fire that has triggered a series of Evacuation Orders and Alerts.
She says Monday brought ``moderate’’ winds relative to what’s expected Thursday and Friday, but they still drove the Kiskatinaw River blaze to grow by several kilometres in two areas.
The fire started last Wednesday from an apparent lightning strike and is still about 5 kilometres from the community of Kelly Lake.
Desrosiers described the situation as ``very high risk’’ and urged Kelly Lake residents not to wait until they see smoke or flames to make the decision to leave, as escape routes may be cut off quickly.
Desrosiers says structure protection equipment has been established throughout the community of about 75 residents, and personnel will be present to do ``active structure defence and tactical patrols for hot spots’’ over the next few days.
Desrosiers says there are over 40 structure protection personnel that will remain in the area, but she urged residents not to wait until they see smoke or flames to make the decision to leave as escape routes may be cut off quickly.
105 firefighters are fighting the wildfire with 11 helicopters supporting them from the air.
The Peace River Regional District has NOW issued evacuation orders covering 110 civic addresses, with 11 others subject to evacuation alerts in total.
RCMP and the South Peace Search and Rescue helped evacuate One Island Lake Tuesday evening. Five people defied the Evacuations Orders and stay behind, while 17 other defied an Order for Kelly Lake.
Ryan Kirkham, Director of the Emergency Operations Centre with the district, says the Transportation Ministry has established blockades to restrict access to areas subject to evacuation order and keep residents away from the blaze.
The blaze spans about 65 square kilometres, the wildfire service’s website shows. Desrosiers told Wednesday’s briefing there is a ``significant area of continuous fuel’’ where the fire may continue spreading towards the Alberta boundary.
“The growth could be significant. We did see the fire almost double under more mild winds than are forecast,” said Desrosiers. “Temperatures are also expected to be hotter over the next several days”, she adds.
The blaze has forced the closure of a stretch of Highway 52 East and hopped over the route in some areas, the wildfire service says in its latest bulletin.
The north finger of the fire has burned close to the highway. Tuesday a controlled burned took place between the fire and highway to prevent that part of the fire from crossing the road.
Westerly winds are expected to reach speeds greater than 50 kilometres per hour on Thursday, picking up to 60 kilometres per hour on Friday. The service is expecting ``aggressive and challenging fire behaviour,’’ it says.
There are a number of oil and gas operations in the area near the wildfire. The PRRD said that so far, no buildings have been lost to the blaze.
Desrosiers says that no livestock has had to be moved yet. She added that there is a liaison from the Ministry of Agriculture working with the wildfire service, that ranchers can contact for advice or to move animals in case the fire encroaches on their land.
There are about 65 active wildfires across B.C. on Wednesday, with more than 60 per cent classified as burning out of control.
The Kiskatinaw River fire is one of two blazes in the province that are described as wildfires of note, the other being the Summit Lake fire that is also in the province’s northeast and spans about 26 square kilometres.
With Files from The Canadian Press