Village of Lytton, B.C., evacuated as mayor says ‘the whole town is on fire’
Lytton #Lytton
The mayor of Lytton, B.C., said he has ordered the entire town to be evacuated after a fast-moving wildfire swept in on Wednesday evening.
Mayor Jan Polderman said he told everyone in town to leave as the situation rapidly deteriorated.
“It’s dire. The whole town is on fire,” Polderman told CBC News. “It took like a whole 15 minutes from the first sign of smoke to all of a sudden there being fire everywhere.”
Fire information officers with the B.C. Wildfire Service said they were unable to provide an update on the situation in the Fraser Canyon village.
This week, Lytton recorded the highest temperature ever seen in Canada on three consecutive days, topping out at 49.6 C on Tuesday.
This is a developing story. The previous version of the story is below.
Wildfire crews spent Wednesday dealing with aggressive fires across B.C.’s Interior in the aftermath of a record-breaking heat wave.
A growing number of people were being forced out of their homes and a number of highways were closed as existing fires spread and new ones were sparked in the hot and dry conditions.
The Sparks Lake wildfire, 15 kilometres northwest of Kamloops Lake, is now an estimated 40 square kilometres in size and has forced the evacuation of more than 160 homes in the area.
The B.C. Wildfire Service says 56 firefighters are on site fighting the blaze, as well as 10 helicopters and 2 pieces of heavy equipment. Fire information officer Madison Smith said helicopters struggled with the heat on Tuesday, and some were grounded as their engines overheated.
Not far away, the Mckay Creek fire burning 23 kilometres north of Lillooet has grown to 50 square kilometres in size and is classified as out of control. There are 24 firefighters on scene, along with four helicopters and five pieces of heavy equipment.
Late Wednesday, two new fires were reported north of Big White in the Okanagan, and firefighters were reporting aggressive fire growth and heavy smoke that could be seen from Kelowna, Vernon and other nearby communities.
Together, they are estimated to measure about three square kilometres.
Another fire was sparked Tuesday near Lytton, where the all-time highest recorded temperature in Canada has been registered three days in a row, and where crews have been fighting the George Road fire since last Wednesday.
Bernie Fandrich, who lives on George Road in Lytton, said the fire started within a kilometre of his home.
“There was a very, very competent crew,” he told the CBC’s The Early Edition. “They did a remarkable job in bringing it under control and protecting the residences around here.”
Now, he said the fire has moved up the mountain to the east of his home, and the air in Lytton has been smoky for the past two days.
That blaze, the Conte Creek fire, is estimated to be about 1.5 hectares in size.
Erica Berg, a provincial fire information officer, said in northeastern B.C., nine wildfires had been reported since lightning storms swept through the region Monday and Tuesday. Berg said there have been 26 new fires in the last two days as the risk across most of the province is rated at high to extreme.
Evacuation orders, alerts
Video: Historic heat wave in B.C. breaks Canada’s hottest temperature record again, setting off wildfires (The Weather Network)
Historic heat wave in B.C. breaks Canada’s hottest temperature record again, setting off wildfires
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Evacuation orders were issued for several properties in Electoral Area B in the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, as the Mckay Creek wildfire threatened homes on Tuesday.
On Wednesday evening, 136 properties in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District were ordered to evacuate because of the Sparks Lake wildfire. That’s in addition to another 27 properties that were placed under evacuation order on Tuesday and Wednesday morning.
Nine properties in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District were evacuated Tuesday out of concern that the Sparks Lake wildfire would threaten homes and other structures. Another 18 properties were put on evacuation order Wednesday morning.
The Sparks Lake wildfire has also prompted evacuation alerts for a total of 421 properties in the Deadman, Red Lake, Tranquille Valley, Vidette Lake, Loon Lake and Hihium Lake areas.
Marshall Potts and Jo-Anne Beharrell, who live about 1.5 kilometres from the fire, were ordered to leave the area Tuesday afternoon.
They packed up their vehicle on Monday night, knowing they’d likely have to leave at the drop of a hat.
The pair are staying with family in Pinantan Lake, about 75 kilometres away, with their two dogs.
“It was very stressful,” Beharrell said. “The not knowing and wanting to get back and check on everything is really overwhelming.”
They had to leave their cattle behind, but left the gates open so they could get away if the fire comes too close. They also had to leave their chickens and two cats, which they couldn’t find.
They hadn’t heard anything about the status of their property by Wednesday morning.
Potts, a musician, says the area is a great place to be creative.
“We live in a beautiful part of the world up there,” he said. “It’s devastating to actually see so much devastation to that natural beauty.”
Multiple highway closures
Wednesday evening, DriveBC reported that two wildfires had closed highways to the north and south of Lytton. As of 6 p.m. PT, Highway 1 was closed between Boston Bar and Spences Bridge, while Highway 12 is closed from Lillooet to the junction with Highway 1.
Meanwhile, Highway 97 north is closed for 59 kilometres between Sikanni Chief Road and Prophet River Sub Road, in order to protect the public from two wildfires near the Pink Mountain area in northern B.C.
“The highway will remain closed there until there’s no public safety concern,” B.C. Wildfire Service information officer Sharon Nickel said. “We will have personnel on site to continue assessing the situation.”
That fire is currently listed at 48 square kilometres in size and was sparked by lightning.
Nickel said everywhere in the Prince George fire centre is extremely dry right now, and she expects those conditions to continue.
In the Cariboo, a fire sparked Wednesday about 35 kilometres east of Horsefly has led to the closure of the McKinley Lake recreation campsite. Thirty-two-firefighters are responding along with a helicopter.
The wildfire service says the fire is highly visible from the surrounding communities but no structures are currently at risk.
Possibility of lightning in forecast
While the air has cooled off in Vancouver, high temperatures look set to continue in the Interior this week as the “heat dome” moves east, with Kamloops and Kelowna forecast to hit temperatures in the high 30s and the low 40s in the coming days.
Vancouver Island and northern B.C., where fire danger is extreme, have seen lightning strikes this morning, according to CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe.
Those strikes will migrate east today, and new fire startups are likely.
Environment Canada is predicting a chance of thunderstorms throughout the Interior on Wednesday afternoon and evening.
Backcountry still open amid wildfire risk
John Hawkings, the director of recreation sites and trails with B.C.’s Ministry of Forests, says despite the wildfire risk, the backcountry won’t be closed for the Canada Day long weekend.
“Closing the forest is not as simple as putting up a fence,” Hawkings said Wednesday to Chris Walker, the host of CBC’s Daybreak South.
“We have thousands of recreation sites and bike parks and places that people get out to enjoy, and it’s a healthy activity,” he continued. “Closing the backcountry is an extreme measure.”