Wildfire near Spence Bridge triggers “tactical evacuation” and new fire breaks out near Nelson

There are dozens of properties nearby Spence BridgeResidents of B.C. evacuated as traffic jam out of control Wildfire Flooding is rampant amid scorching temperatures and a prolonged drought.

Bowinn Ma, British Columbia’s emergency management minister, said at a briefing Thursday that the Shetland Creek Fire “moved rapidly and violently” overnight.

“This wildfire has proven to be extremely spreadable and everyone in the area should evacuate immediately if they have not already done so,” Mr Ma said.

As of late Thursday morning, the fire had merged with the nearby Teit Creek Fire and had spread to more than 5,000 hectares (50 square kilometers).

The Thompson-Nicola region has issued evacuation orders for 76 properties in the Venables Valley area north of Spence Bridge, a community about 65 kilometres northwest of Merritt.

Residents were directed to the emergency services reception centre at Cache Creek.

The Cook’s Ferry Indian Tribe also expanded an evacuation order for the same fire to its reservation along the Thompson River south of Ashcroft.

Both fires are believed to have been caused by lightning strikes and were first discovered on Friday.

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Lightning also caused seven new wildfires around the city of Nelson in the West Kootenay region.

“We may see more fires in the area as time goes on, but the way this system looks, we may see more fires in the coming days from this activity, not just in the Kootenay Lake area, but in the Arrow area and potentially other areas as well,” said fire information officer Kim Wright.

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Fire departments closed Highway 97 near Peachland, B.C.

Currently, no evacuation orders or alerts have been issued for the fire near Nelson.

As of Thursday, there were 195 wildfires burning in British Columbia, 52 of which occurred in the past 24 hours.

Of those fires, 44% were classified as out of control.

British Columbia’s wildfire management agency has 800 personnel on the scene, with experts from Australia and New Zealand involved.

As of Thursday, 25 heat warnings were still in effect for Howe Sound and Whistler, parts of the Fraser Valley, Thompson, Okanagan and Kootenay regions, inland areas of the North and Central Coasts, the northeast corner of British Columbia and much of the Central Interior.

Cache Creek, located north of the Shetland Creek wildfire, is forecast to have a high of 40 degrees Celsius on Thursday, 38 degrees Celsius on Friday and 40 degrees Celsius over the weekend.

As of Wednesday evening, fire danger levels were listed as “high” or “extreme” in nearly every region of British Columbia.

“As we have seen over the past few days, high temperatures and dry periods can increase the risk of wildfires. We have seen many new wildfires started by lightning,” Ma said.

A storm brought lightning to the southeast corner of the province on Wednesday, sparking high-elevation fires in the Arrow Lake and Kootenay Lake fire areas, wildfire authorities said.

The agency remains concerned about the risk of thunderstorms and dry lightning strikes in the British Columbia Interior, particularly in the southern Cascade Range and Robson Valley area near the Columbia-Alberta border.

Winds are also expected to increase in the Kamloops Fire Centre (particularly in the Fraser Canyon), the Cariboo Fire Centre in central British Columbia, and the Peace Region in the northeast.

The service added that light showers are expected in the northwest, but the rest of the province will remain dry through the weekend.

Widespread thunderstorms and strong winds are expected Friday and Saturday.

— With files from The Canadian Press

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