Cooler weather is on the way as multiple wildfires continue to burn on Vancouver Island.
Four wildfires on Vancouver Island are still classified by the BC Wildfire Service as out of control as of Tuesday afternoon.
The largest is the seven-hectare wildfire at Meade Creek, north of Lake Cowichan near Youbou.
One of the wildfires on Vancouver Island on Aug. 17, 2020. This one is close to Meade Creek, near Lake Cowichan. (BC Wildfire Service)
Another wildfire classified as out of control is the Sooke Reservoir wildfire, near Horton Lake. It is estimated to be 2.30 hectares in size.
According to the Capital Regional District (CRD), the site of the fire is over a kilometre upslope from the nearest road and access is difficult due to the terrain which is rock bluffs with steep slopes. Ground crews are cutting corridors through the forest for access to the perimeter and to reduce spread. The area that burned as a result of this fire is within the catchment of Sooke Lake Reservoir.
But to the south, the Mount Healey fire is now classified as “being held” by the BC Wildfire Service.
According to the Capital Regional District, a more accurate survey of size of the Mount Healey fire has been done and the is estimated at six hectares – which is less than the previous estimate.
Based on the current mapping of the fire perimeter, it is estimated that less than 10 per cent of the area burned is in the catchment of Sooke Lake Reservoir. Some of this fire also burned onto privately managed forest land owned by Mosaic Forest Management.
The two other out-of-control wildfires are the Trap Mountain #1 wildfire, estimated to be 1.10 hectares, and the Trap Mountain #2 wildfire, estimated to be 1.20 hectares. Both are north of Sooke, in the Sooke Hills area.
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Most of the wildfires on Vancouver Island are believed to have been sparked during a large lightning storm over the Island Sunday night.
Dorthe Jakobson, a fire information officer with the Coastal Fire Centre, said of the 17 wildfires started by the lightning storm, three are now out.
“Crews are having good success on the wildfires here on Vancouver Island,” she said, adding that the number of wildfires under control will likely increase.
On southern Vancouver Island Wednesday, there are 75 firefighters, 10 helicopters and eight water tenders, which are the water trucks that drive up to the fire sites.
Jakobsen added that rain is in the forecast for Vancouver Island on Thursday and Friday, which will help fire crews with the rest of the fires. There has also been a reduction in temperature and increase in humidity Wednesday.
According to Jakobsen, there still may be some fires from the lightning storm that have not been discovered, as they can smoulder. Anyone who sees something that could be a wildfire can call the BC Wildfire Service at 1-800-663-5555 or (*5555 from a cell phone).
Wildfires in the Coastal Fire Centre on Aug. 19, 2020. Red dots indicate out of control, yellow is for being held, green is under control and orange is new. (BC Wildfire Service)
Elsewhere in B.C., hundreds of people have been forced from their homes in the southern Okanagan.
Smoke from the blaze, above Skaha Lake near Penticton, was first spotted Tuesday afternoon and by midnight about 14 square kilometres of bush had been charred.
The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen ordered the evacuation of 319 properties in the path of the fire.
Evacuation alerts were also issued for about 3,700 other homes near the fire, including on the southeast side of the city of Penticton.
READ: Hundreds evacuated, thousands on notice as wildfire flares in Okanagan
The B.C. Wildfire Service says the blaze is burning in steep and rocky terrain and is uncontained. More firefighters and structure protection teams were being assigned to fight the blaze.
East of that fire, another 18-hectare wildfire is burning along Highway 33 between Beaverdell and Carmi and the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary has placed 44 properties on evacuation alert.
The wildfire service says that blaze was likely sparked by lightning and it has provided aerial and heavy equipment support to the local fire department.
A cause of the larger wildfire near Penticton has not yet been determined, the wildfire service said on its website.
More than 100 fires flared in the province over the last few days in the wake of lightning storms and a heatwave that raised the wildfire danger rating to high or extreme across most of southern and central B.C.
“The ecosystems here on the coast are very different than what you find in the Interior,” Jakobsen said.
“Fire will behave differently here. We have a lot of remote mountain tops, a lightning storm like that blows through and it ignites on top of mountain tops and that’s what we’re fighting right now, all these fires on steep mountainsides, on top of mountains, remote mountains.”
She said in the Interior, there are flat landscapes that fire travels quickly through.
Penticton-area evacuees are familiar with out-of-control fires.
A large blaze in 1994 forced 3,500 residents to flee and destroyed 18 homes, but a major emergency during a pandemic is something new.
Ron Obirek, the regional district director who represents the area, is one of those under an evacuation order.
He is staying with friends across Skaha Lake and said he woke Wednesday thinking the whole thing was a bad dream, that is until he looked outside.
“And as I’m watching the flames, I’m watching the helicopter pilots and you can see them hit the flames with their bucket and douse it and it’s happening right in front of you,” he said in a telephone interview.
“You can see your neighbour’s homes are being saved by that response.”
He said there is added stress to the evacuation over the need to maintain protocols to prevent the spread of the COVID-19.
The regional district had set up a reception centre in Penticton for evacuees but said on its website that evacuees and those on alert should register online.
It would be a “polite understatement” to say the pandemic complicates the situation, Obirek said.
Visitors hoping for a “staycation” to get away from COVID-19 woes in other parts of B.C. had flocked to the region, he said, making it even busier than a normal summer.
“COVID hits us twice,” said Obirek, noting evacuees have few choices for accommodation because so many visitors are in town.
The heat was expected to continue for another day in Penticton with Environment Canada predicting temperatures in the low 30s, while showers are forecasts by Friday.
The city set a temperature record on Tuesday, breaking a 57-year-old record with a high of 37.5 C.
With files from The Canadian Press
Alexa Huffman
