Wildfire between Mackenzie and Chetwynd causes evacuation alert

There are currently 268 wildfires blazing throughout BC, including 62 in the Prince George Fire Centre.

Only three of the fires in the PGFC are considered to be of note, meaning they’re either highly visible or pose a potential threat to public safety.

One of them is the out-of-control Pine River Blaze between Mackenzie and Chetwynd that burned down multiple structures over the weekend and temporarily closed off an area of Highway 97.

As a result of the blaze,  the Peace River Regional District has issued an Evacuation Alert along Highway 97 in Peace Regional District Electoral Area “E”.

“The Pine River Wildfire received a significant amount of rain yesterday (Sunday) and fire activity did remain low we did have high winds on-site yesterday and they are forecasted to continue today,” explained PGFC Fire Information Officer, Alex Lane.

Multiple resources, including two helicopters, are working to control the blaze, as it is now over 2,500 hectares.

The BC Wildfire Service warns that while the roadway between Old Hasler Road and Powder Kind Road is now open, its status may change depending on wildfire activity.

On Saturday, it was reported that the fire impacted a major BC Hydro transmission line, however, the BCWS confirmed that none of the BC Hydro structures appears to be damaged but heavy smoke from the fire did reduce visibility.

Currently, all three transmission lines in the area are in service at this time.

The BCWS says anyone travelling through the area should check Drive BC for updates, and should slow down for crews working in the area.

The other wildfire of note is the Tentfire Creek, Cutoff Creek, and Pine River blazes, as the Grizzly Lake wildfire was recently removed from the list.

“Although the Tentfire Creek wildfire did receive some precipitation over the weekend, it wasn’t quite the same amount as we’ve seen on some of the other fires and we are expecting high winds in that area to continue to be a challenge,” added Lane.

She says that while heavy equipment and aircraft resources are deployed to the fire, the smoke has impacted visibility and the BC Wildfire Service’s ability to use aircraft on site.

An evacuation alert is remaining in place for the Cutoff Creek area as the blaze has now reached 31,601 hectares and has 56 firefighters, three helicopters and 11 pieces of heavy equipment working to get it under control.

“We did see increased wildfire behavior at the Cutoff Creek fire over the past several days, and that has resulted in significant fire growth, we have crews who have established structure protection in that area and they are continuing to establish fireguards,” she added.

Additionally, Lane says that there were some reports claiming that the Cutoff Creek fire has caused some structures in the area to burn down, however she confirmed that is not the case.

The wildfire situation in the Interior region continues to rage on as hundreds of people were evacuated last night (Sunday).

Evacuation alerts have been issued for Armstrong and Merritt and the province is now warning travellers that highways may be closed without notice due to wildfire threats.