'Explosive' wildfire growth near Port Alberni, B.C., unusual for Vancouver Island: wildfire service

Yahoo

7 hours ago

Rain is expected to fall on an out-of-control wildfire on Vancouver Island on Friday, but wildfire crews are focusing their efforts on the edge closest to the community of Port Alberni, B.C., as winds push the fire in that direction.
The Mount Underwood fire jumped to 21.56 square kilometres (2,156 hectares) Wednesday morning, and is burning more than 10 kilometres south of Port Alberni, a small city home to about 19,000 people.
The fire, which is roughly the same size as the City of Victoria, has prompted the city, Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District (ACRD) and Tseshaht First Nation to declare states of local emergency.
More than 500 properties in the Bamfield and Anacla areas are still without power due to the blaze, according to B.C. Hydro's outage list. Those properties haven't had power since around 6 p.m. PT on Monday.
The ACRD has said the power is expected to be out for longer than 72 hours.
Evacuation orders have been issued by the ACRD and Cowichan Valley Regional District for around 55 properties in total, a mix of residential, commercial, industrial and recreational properties.
WATCH | Vancouver Island wildfire grows rapidly:
The fire rapidly expanded Tuesday, ballooning from about 6.3 square kilometres Monday night to almost 14.5 square kilometres Tuesday night, before growing again Wednesday.
ACRD chair and Huu-ay-aht First Nations Chief Coun. John Jack said the quick growth of the fire is concerning.
"This is a fire that hasn't really been seen on Vancouver Island," he told CBC's On the Island Wednesday morning.
Three evacuation alerts are also in effect, issued by the ACRD, the City of Port Alberni for the Cameron Heights neighbourhood, and the Tseshaht First Nation.
The alerts, which require residents to be ready to leave at a moment's notice, cover almost 200 affected properties.
Jack stressed that those under evacuation alert should have a plan for where to stay, where to keep pets and what to do for medications, especially if they need refrigeration.
In a news conference on Wednesday afternoon, fire information office Karley Desrosiers said that forecasters were predicting rain on Friday, but it likely wouldn't immediately extinguish the blaze.
"As we've experienced over much of the summer, the forecast often over-predicts the amount of rain that we receive," she told reporters.
"Due to the drought conditions that we're experiencing ... on Vancouver Island, it would take a significant amount of rain over a longer period to really penetrate and extinguish the fire that is going to be burning deep in the ground."
Desrosiers said firefighters didn't see rapid growth overnight into Wednesday, as they had on Monday when the fire was first started.
It is suspected to have been sparked by human activity, and she said that firefighters were focusing on the northwest flank of the blaze, closest to Port Alberni.
"Today, we've seen a shift in the wind. So the wind is pushing from the south towards the north, which is why crews are focused heavily on that northern flank," she said.'Unprecedented' dry conditions
Julia Caranci, another fire information officer with the B.C. Wildfire Service, said Tuesday this "extreme" fire behaviour is unusual for Vancouver Island.
"We are in the midst of a severe drought," she said at a news conference on Tuesday. She noted strong winds had pushed the fire "aggressively" uphill.
"In the seven years I've worked for the Coastal Fire Centre, I don't think I've seen a fire like this on Vancouver Island," Caranci said.
She said the "unprecedented" dry conditions, combined with the strong winds, hot weather and steep, rugged terrain, came together to contribute to the fire's growth.
"When the temperature is rising and the relative humidity falls, and we have strong winds pushing on a new incident, we can see that explosive type of growth," Caranci said.
"Again, we don't normally see that on fires on Vancouver Island."
The province has issued an air quality warning due to the wildfire smoke. It recommended residents near Port Alberni and areas to the southeast, such as Lake Cowichan, limit their time outdoors, as increasing smoke levels can increase health risks.
The service said there is no threat to Bamfield or Port Alberni at this time, but has asked non-residents to stay away from Bamfield, an unincorporated community with about 300 year-round residents, to avoid putting more pressure on the community.
Ken Watts, elected chief councillor of the Tsesaht First Nation, said he personally delivered evacuation alerts to some of his nation's members due to the blaze.
"To see, like, the kind of fear in their eyes about their home and the sadness, worried about what it is, what could happen to their own home — it's something I'll never forget, and it's a tough thing to do," he said.
"Really, again, a huge shout-out to all those who work in this field. They do this every single day."
Power outage in Bamfield area
B.C. Hydro says it's likely to be many days, possibly more than a week, before power is restored to Bamfield and the nearby Ditidaht First Nation.
"It all depends on when we're given permission to go into the area to do the assessment," said Ted Olynyk, manager of community relations for B.C. Hydro, Vancouver Island-Sunshine Coast.
Olynyk said the utility company needs to wait for clearance from BCWS and government authorities in order for it to be safe for crews to assess the damage.
And once Hydro crews can assess, then the repairs need to take place.
"That can be a couple days; it could be up to a week, depending on the amount of damage we're faced with."
Olynyk said there have been some pictures from the air showing damage to power lines.
"But we don't know if it's just five poles, five kilometres' worth of poles [or] how much damage we have to deal with."
Jack, ACRD chair, said Wednesday morning that the community hall and office operate on propane, and generators operate on diesel or gasoline.
He said organizations are working to get fuel to the community through the alternate route to and from the Cowichan area.