Some residents of Valemount, B.C., told to leave due to wildfire

The Regional District of Fraser-Fort George and the Village of Valemount have issued an evacuation order for the South Valemount and Cedarside areas due to the Canoe Road wildfire.

The community of Valemount, about 260 kilometres southeast of Prince George, B.C., is home to about 1,000 people as of the 2021 census. 

The Canoe Road wildfire, caused by a lightning strike southeast of McKirdy Creek earlier Saturday evening, is burning near the intersection of Whiskeyfill Road and Canoe River Forest Road just southeast of the village.

Valemount mayor Owen Torgerson says the fire is approximately three-and-a-half kilometres southeast of the village.  

He says the forested area where the fire broke out is full of dry pine trees, which Torgerson says are “a wildfire’s best appetite.”

The evacuation order mostly covers several rural residential multi-acre properties, as well as the Best Western Plus Valemount Inn and Suites.

The mayor says it’s unknown if any of the guests at that hotel were evacuees from the wildfire in Jasper, Alta., that sparked around two weeks ago.

“B.C. wildfire and local resources, the Valemount Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department, quickly deployed knowing just … how quickly it could get up and going,” Torgerson told CBC News Saturday evening. “So hats off to first responders for getting after it right away.”

The fire, named G32044 on the B.C. Wildfire Service dashboard, is currently less than one square kilometre in size, and is listed as out of control.

Residents in the affected area are required to evacuate immediately. The exact number of affected residents was not provided in the evacuation order posted on EmergencyInfoBC.

The evacuation order covers properties east of Highway 5, south of 17th Avenue and north of the Canoe River. This includes properties at the north end of Kinbasket Lake.

The Regional District is instructing evacuees to go to the welcome centre at the Robson Valley Community Centre in McBride, located around 80 km away from Valemount. Those who are unable to evacuate have been told to call 911.

According to the B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS), ground crews are fighting the wildfire alongside Valemount Fire Department personnel, with support from air tankers, skimmers and helicopters.

More than 400 fires burning

More than 400 wildfires are burning across B.C. as of Saturday evening, according to the BCWS.

In a report Saturday, the service says a period of hot and dry weather combined with lightning activity is driving new wildfire starts and could intensify existing fires. 

The service is forecasting a significant chance of lightning for the southern Interior on Saturday afternoon.

It says more than 1,700 personnel are responding to fires across B.C., and more than 260 wildfires have been declared out in the preceding seven days, as of Saturday morning.

BCWS fire information officer Sarah Budd told CBC News Friday that August is usually the most intense month for wildfires in B.C. 

On Saturday, Environment Canada issued several heat warnings for regions in the B.C. Interior, as well as Fort Nelson in the northeast. 

The majority of the wildfires active in the province are caused by lightning, according to the service. Budd said the wildfire service expects small fires started by lightning, that cannot yet be detected, will become visible as the humidity continues to drop.

“You might see a lightning strike. Then [a fire] will smoulder slowly, and as conditions warm and dry — often, wind is what does it — that will really kick those kinds of fires up,” she said. “When we’re getting more oxygen into the fire, those fires pop up and become visible to our scanning.”

Environment Canada issued thunderstorm watches for several regions of the province Saturday, including the Fraser Canyon, South Thompson, Similkameen and Nicola. 

Philippe-Alain Bergeron, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said he expects hot and dry weather to continue over the weekend, before temperatures across the province return to seasonal norms early next week.

“Those temperatures will still be warm summer temperatures, but much closer to normal,” he said. 

While some parts of the province may see light rainfall next week, Bergeron said it would be very localized.

He added the wildfires are causing smoky skies across much of the province. 

Evacuation order issued west of Quesnel

The Cariboo Regional District in central B.C. ordered residents on 30 parcels of land in the Kuyakuz Lake area, west of Quesnel, to evacuate immediately on Friday night.

Three out-of-control wildfires are burning nearby — all of which are suspected to be lightning-caused — prompting the regional district to issue the order on Friday “due to immediate danger to life.”

An accompanying evacuation alert is also in place for 28 parcels of land in the surrounding area, covering more than 880 square kilometres.

Campfires banned in most of B.C.

The hot and dry weather has led the BCWS to reinstate its ban on campfires in northwest B.C. as of noon Saturday.

Campfires remain prohibited across the province, except in the Prince George Fire Centre covering north-central and northeast B.C. 

According to Natural Resources Canada, human-driven climate change means hot and dry weather will happen more often, drying out plant matter that fuels fires, and creating the conditions in which they thrive. 

Researchers also expect climate change to increase the amount of lightning in the province, which could lead to more fires starting.