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A wildfire near Port Alberni, B.C., is rapidly growing out of control and has more than doubled in size in less than a day.
The Mount Underwood wildfire, now measuring almost 14 square kilometres, is located just over 10 kilometres south of the Vancouver Island city, which is home to around 19,000 people.
About 300 people were evacuated Monday from a nearby campground and marina, and the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District (ACRD) issued a new evacuation order Tuesday for the Mount Underwood area, including parts of the Bamfield and Cherry Creek electoral areas.
The order said the wildfire is a “threat to those in the evacuation order” and is “surrounding the Bamfield Main Road and making it impassable.”
A 24-hour reception centre has been set up at the Alberni Athletic Hall, according to EmergencyInfoBC.
In a news conference Tuesday, the ACRD said that 50 properties were subject to the order, a mixture of commercial, industrial and recreational properties.
A regional district spokesperson had earlier told CBC News the majority were recreational, with officials saying some of the properties included long-term camping sites.
Around 3:40 p.m. PT, a further evacuation order was issued for five residential properties southeast of the fire in the Cowichan Lake area, with evacuees told to go to the Cowichan Lake Sports Arena if they needed assistance.
The fire has also knocked out power for more than 500 B.C. Hydro customers in the community of Bamfield, according to the utility’s outage list.
“The power will likely be out for at least 72 hours, likely more,” Huu-ay-aht First Nations Chief Coun. John Jack, ACRD chair, said in a news conference on Tuesday afternoon.
“Therefore, people will have to take take the steps they need to manage their own families and checking on their neighbours.”
Fire grows rapidly
The fire was discovered Monday and grew quickly throughout the day, ballooning from around 50 hectares at 7 p.m. PT to 630 hectares (6.3 square kilometres) three hours later.
It was reported as 859 hectares (almost 8.6 square kilometres) on Tuesday morning and then 1,391 hectares (almost 14 square kilometres) as of the B.C. Wildfire Service’s 1:45 p.m. update, over three times the size of Stanley Park in Vancouver.
An aggressive wildfire detected Monday night has forced up to 300 people to flee a campground near Port Alberni. The B.C. Wildfire Service says the Mount Underwood fire is displaying aggressive behaviour, forcing a nearby road closure. Meera Bains reports.
“It grew massive,” Jack said when speaking on CBC’s On The Island Tuesday morning.
He noted the fire has grown larger than the nearby Wesley Ridge fire was at its height.
The road between Bamfield, an unincorporated community with about 300 year-round residents, and Port Alberni is closed in both directions due to the wildfire, according to DriveBC.
Jack said people are advised to use the Cowichan route if they need to get to the Bamfield area.
Christi Howes, fire information officer with the B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS) said there are no threats to Port Alberni or Bamfield at this time, but she stressed the need for people who are not residents to stay away from Bamfield.
“We don’t want to add any additional pressures to the community by having extra people trying to get there, either by road or by trail,” she said.
Aggressive fire behaviour
On Tuesday, the BCWS said the blaze was displaying Rank 4 and Rank 5 fire behaviour — meaning it was an extremely vigorous surface fire and burning to the tops of trees.
In an update later Tuesday afternoon, Julia Caranci from the BCWS said that the aggressive fire behaviour was unusual for Vancouver Island.
“On the Island, we tend to have the moderating winds coming in shore from the ocean, which do tend to moderate fire behaviour,” she said.
“I would say … that 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 that strong winds through the Alberni Inlet had prompted the fire’s “explosive type of growth” uphill on Monday, and the area had had very little rain since the end of June.
“What we’re seeing is incredibly dry conditions, which normally we would not have for this extended period of time,” the fire information officer said.
“And that is combined with very steep terrain where this fire is and strong winds and how hot it is.”
Jack said residents of Bamfield and Anacla, a Huu-ay-aht First Nations community, are resilient and used to restricted access.
“Being cut off from the Port Alberni area is always a bit of a concerning situation for them, but they’re no strangers to using gravel roads to get to where they need to go,” Jack said Tuesday morning.
“That being said, the power is out — and it’s out indefinitely. And that’s perhaps the most concerning thing.”
In a 7:15 a.m. update Tuesday, B.C. Hydro said a crew had been assigned to the outage, but no time was given for when the power may return. It’s been down since about 6 p.m. Monday.
Jack recommended residents be prepared by making a “72-hour kit,” having a plan for staying in place, and monitoring verified information sources.
Howes said structural protection has been put in place for private campgrounds, mills and log-sorting facilities in the area.
She said crews are expecting wind and rain in the forecast.
“It’s a dynamic situation and we will be watching the weather very closely,” she said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
The Mount Underwood fire grows just after the Wesley Ridge fire, burning northwest of Nanaimo, was downgraded from “out of control” to “being held.”
Howes said the Wesley Ridge fire remains “adequately resourced.”
