Evacuation orders, alerts issued for properties south of Smithers, B.C., due to wildfire

A wildfire near Smithers in northwest B.C. has led to dozens of properties being placed on evacuation order, and hundreds on evacuation alert.

The B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS) said the Powers Creek blaze three kilometres south of the town covers an area of 22 hectares as of Saturday afternoon.

In a tweet Friday night, the BCWS said the fire was spreading moderately fast, and multiple pieces of heavy equipment — including aerial resources — would work to contain it overnight. It is suspected to have been sparked by lightning.

The Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako issued an evacuation order for 51 properties west of the Telkwa River, accessed off of Tatlow Road, at 11 p.m. Friday.

An evacuation alert covers 206 properties in the vicinity of the fire, according to the regional district.

"Starting around 3 [p.m.] yesterday afternoon, we did have a lightning event come through," Mark Parker, director of the regional district, said on Saturday morning. "Some places got some heavy downpours with it. Some areas didn't receive the rain.

"On the outer perimeters, we had lightning [that] obviously started a number of fires."

Gladys Atrill, the mayor of Smithers, told CBC News that the fire was quite visible from the town of around 5,300 residents.

"It is very close to the community and it's close to recreation areas as well," she said. "The evacuation alert goes up our ski hill to the recreational community up there. So [there's] lots of anxiety, but it's comforting to see all the activity."

Parker said they would continue to hope for rain in the region, and the district was being briefed by the BCWS regarding the "significant" number of new starts.

The district also issued evacuation alerts for a fire southeast of the Powers Creek fire along Highway 16.

The BCWS said Friday that the Tatin Lake wildfire was displaying a high rate of spread, covering an area of six hectares north of Highway 16.

The evacuation alert covers nine properties north of the Endako River, accessed by Savory Road. Another fire close to Burns Lake, the Tintagel wildfire, prompted an evacuation alert for the north side of the village on Saturday morning.

There are currently eight "fires of note" — those which are particularly visible or pose a threat to public safety — burning across the province.

While the majority of them are located in northern B.C., the Davis Lake fire east of Mission in the Fraser Valley led to public warnings Friday.

Lightning and hot weather creating challenges

The uptick in fire activity comes as a heat warning covers the inland sections of Central Coast, the North Coast and much of the Interior.

Environment Canada said the extreme heat is expected to stay until early next week. B.C.'s Thompson, Cariboo and Okanagan Valley regions are all under the warning, with the highest temperatures in some areas expected to hit 35 C.

"Wildfire hazard just continues to build across the province and conditions remain really hot and dry," said Sarah Budd, a BCWS fire information officer. "We've got persistent thunderstorm risk over all regions, pretty much, in the province and our fuels right now are really highly susceptible to ignition."

Budd said there were 7,000 lightning strikes across B.C. on Friday, and 3,000 of them were in the Northwest fire centre — where the Powers Creek fire was sparked.

Special weather statements also warn of poor air quality due to wildfire smoke across the north and central Interior.

An evacuation alert means residents should prepare to evacuate their homes, possibly with little to no notice. An evacuation order means a resident should leave immediately.