Evacuation order, alert remain in place as crews battle Vancouver Island blaze
Firefighters are battling to protect homes in the northeastern part of the wildfire in and around Qualicum River Village and Park.
'There is structure protection wildfire where it needs to be right now,' Madison Dahl with the BC Wildfire Service said.
'We are very happy with the resources that we have and we have additional resources incoming. Again, there are spot fires that may have occurred within different areas but we do have structure protection in place to respond to those and suppress them as they happen, and structure protection as well as crews are on site at all of these locations overnight as well.'
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The wildfire is still mapped at 494 hectares in size and is believed to have been started by humans.
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7:31
Wildfires and Poor air quality: Canada's new normal — expert says
People are asked to stay clear of the helicopters getting water at Cameron and Horne Lakes and people travelling along Highway 4 are being asked not to stop while fire operations are taking place.
There are 141 wildfires burning in B.C. About 30 of them started over the weekend.
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CBC
3 hours ago
- CBC
Rain gives reprieve in B.C. wildfire fight, but challenging days ahead, wildfire service says
Social Sharing Light rain and higher humidity have briefly tempered wildfire activity in British Columbia, with some residents allowed to return to evacuated homes on Vancouver Island and in the Fraser Canyon. But hotter temperatures in the forecast appear poised to create new challenges. Cliff Chapman, director of wildfire operations with the B.C. Wildfire Service, said a drying trend starting this weekend is expected to cause the southern half of the province to "heat up again," raising the wildfire risk. "There is no place in B.C. this year, and frankly, probably any year, that is going to be safe from the threat of wildfires," Chapman told a news conference on Wednesday. "In terms of the rest of August and even into September, I wouldn't say there's anywhere in B.C. that I would say there's no hazard left there." Chapman said the northeast corner of the province, which has dealt with the brunt of B.C.'s wildfire season for several years, has missed out on rain that's been seen elsewhere and continues to be an area of concern. He said areas that have seen some rain have not seen enough. "What it does is it resets our conditions, but only at a very micro scale," he said, explaining that the reprieve gives crews a chance to attack fires at their edge. "It gives us the ability to do that, but it doesn't knock down the hazard for the whole province for the rest of the fire season." WATCH | Wildfires rage across B.C.: B.C. officials confirm 120 active wildfires across the province 23 hours ago British Columbia government and wildfire officials say 120 wildfires remain active in the province as of Wednesday, but light rain and higher humidity are helping crews fight the blazes. Chapman said recent fire seasons in B.C. have not seen the kind of large "season-ending rain event" that would snuff out the last of the blazes, and crews have been left to rely on seasonal shifts from summer to fall and fall to winter. At a Tuesday news conference on the Wesley Ridge wildfire, fire information officer Madison Dahl noted conditions are still extremely dry. "While we are expecting rain, we are in a significant drought," Dahl said. The Wesley Ridge fire had grown to 571 hectares by Thursday. The BCWS described fire activity as "minimal" overnight and limited to steep backcountry terrain in its latest online update. Almost 110 wildfires are burning across the province. Hot and dry weather combined with thousands of lightning strikes last week to spark dozens of new blazes. Over the long weekend, the B.C. Conservation Officer Service handed out almost $30,000 in fines to people violating campfire bans. But there have also been some gains, with more than 160 fires declared out in the past week. On Wednesday, residents of more than 100 properties near Cameron Lake on Vancouver Island were allowed to return home after an evacuation order was partially downgraded to an alert, while a separate evacuation order and some alerts near Lytton were also lifted. The evacuation order issued by the Lytton First Nation due to the Cantilever Bar wildfire was rescinded after firefighters reclassified the blaze as being held on Tuesday. Evacuation alerts issued by the Lytton First Nation, the Thompson-Nicola Regional District and the Siska First Nation were also lifted, while B.C.'s emergency information agency still showed an active evacuation alert issued by the Skuppah Indian Band. That community could not be reached for an update. The vast majority of the province's evacuation orders and alerts are related to the out-of-control Wesley Ridge fire on the north shore of Cameron Lake, about 60 kilometres from Nanaimo. The Regional District of Nanaimo partially lifted about a third of its evacuation orders late Wednesday. "Please know our first priority is getting residents home as soon as it is safe to do so. We understand that it is disappointing that not all evacuees are able to return home at this time," the district said in a statement. Firefighters have said the cooler weather was helping their efforts. Fire information officer Madison Dahl said there was "very little" fire activity near residences in the area of Wesley Ridge and the West Cameron Lake, as night-vision helicopters monitored the fire throughout the evening. Dahl said about 1.4 millimetres of rain fell on the fire on Tuesday, and ground crews have been taking advantage of cooler conditions to battle the blaze. "They've made excellent progress in suppressing fire activity in residential areas," said Dahl, adding that 185 firefighters have been working to contain the flames. She said the fire is suspected to be human-caused, which is how any wildfire not sparked by lightning is categorized. The cause of the fire is now under investigation. Environment Canada's forecast for the region predicts daytime highs of 29 C on Saturday and 33 C on Sunday. Emergency Management Minister Kelly Greene encouraged people to stay alert and prepared during the fire season, saying that includes having a household emergency plan.
Global News
4 hours ago
- Global News
Manitoba state of emergency extended 2 more weeks as wildfires continue
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook The Manitoba government has extended the provincewide state of emergency as a result of ongoing wildfires. The province announced Thursday that the state of emergency will be kept in place for two more weeks, until Aug. 22. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The state of emergency was originally declared on July 10.
Global News
4 hours ago
- Global News
Why is it so challenging to forecast wildfire smoke? Unravelling the haze
If you looked up at the sky this week and saw a grey, drab haze, you are not alone. Large parts of Canada saw air quality dip as wildfire smoke from the Prairies made its way to central Canada. But experts say forecasting wildfire smoke can be quite challenging. For starters, predicting wildfire smoke is linked to predicting the weather, which is already a tall task, said University of Montreal chemistry professor Patrick Hayes. 'You need to have good observations, and then those observations are then used in a computer simulation with essentially fundamental physical equations to predict the weather,' he said. 'But if the observations aren't complete, you don't have a complete picture, so then it's hard to predict weather. And if we can't predict the weather, it's also hard to also predict where smoke is coming from,' he said. Story continues below advertisement Predicting smoke from wildfires, as opposed to standard pollution from human activity, is a lot more complicated, said UCLA professor Pablo Saide. 'Smoke prediction is a lot harder than, let's say, regular anthropogenic pollution prediction because of many different reasons,' Saide said. 'It depends on so many factors on (such as) how severely the fire is burning. Is it burning only kind of (on the) surface? Is it burning the whole canopy? And how deep into the soil is it burning?' All these factors, he said, are hard to ascertain, making it difficult to predict the direction of the smoke. The impact a fire has on air quality can depend on several very fickle factors, such as what kind of fuel was burning in the fire. 'Was it a grass fire? Was it a forest fire? We also need know the burning conditions,' he said. Story continues below advertisement For example, a fire in a boreal forest may emit a lot of black carbon while an urban fire could be 'more problematic' since the emissions could include toxic materials such as arsenic, he said. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Hayes added, 'Another complication is we need to know how high the smoke initially rises in the atmosphere.' The plume height could also determine the nature of the wildfire smoke. For example, Hayes said, some fires burn quite low while others can see the plumes rise 10 km into the air. Saide added, 'When you think about anthropogenic pollution — (from) the cars and pollution coming from houses — that's emitted at the surface level. But (wildfire) smoke, it can be emitted at surface level and can (also) be emitted all the way up to the stratosphere. There's events that are almost like volcanoes in terms of wildfire injection,' he said. To be effective, prediction models would need to figure out exactly where that smoke is being emitted and being transported by the winds, that are different at different levels in the atmosphere, he said. 'If you put all of these uncertainties together and then you add the fact that you're predicting for a region that it's like thousands of kilometres away from the source, that adds another level of uncertainty,' he said. Another complication for prediction models is what stage the source fire is at. Is it a flaming fire or a smouldering fire? Story continues below advertisement 'Smouldering is kind of this white-ish smoke that you see when a fire is kind like dying down. That smouldering phase actually is the one that generates the largest amounts of particulate matter,' Saide said. Determining when a fire will go from raging to smouldering can be tricky to predict. 7:31 Wildfires and Poor air quality: Canada's new normal — expert says What can you do? With climate change making wildfires more likely, Hayes said Canadians should expect more smoke events in the years to come. Story continues below advertisement And while predictions can be difficult, it can help to check air quality warnings. 'Go to your local government websites and look at if there's an air quality warning or not. Environment Canada, for example, publishes an air quality warning. That's really your best bet for knowing what to do if there is smoke impacting your air quality or not,' he said. He said the long-term solution is for governments to cut down greenhouse gas emissions. But in the short term, citizens, too, can take certain steps. 'If there's a high level of fire danger that's been communicated by the local authorities, you need to not have campfires. Don't drive your all-terrain vehicle in the forest. Pay attention to what the local authorities are saying about the fire risk and if the risk is high, don't do these activities that we know can cause fires,' he said. According to Health Canada, poor air quality can impact respiratory health particularly for seniors, infants, and people with pre-existing heart or lung conditions. Experts recommend reducing outdoor activity when an air quality warning is in effect. 'Stay inside your house, close the windows. You can use an air filtration system,' Hayes said. If you have to be outdoors, Hayes says an N95 mask can help. Story continues below advertisement 'I know people are kind of tired of wearing masks from COVID-19, but it's also useful to wear an N95 mask (during a smoke event),' he said. –with files from Global's Ross Hull
