Residents of the town of Fort Nelson and Fort Nelson First Nation have been ordered to evacuate due to an out-of-control wildfire in northeast B.C., according to an evacuation order issued by the Northern Rockies Regional District (NRRD) and the nation shortly before 7:30 p.m. PT on Friday.
“Residents are advised to evacuate the area immediately and begin driving south towards Fort St. John. If you have a recreational vehicle, or your own vehicle, fuel stations are being planned along the route south,” the NRRD said in a Facebook post.
“If you know of and have the ability to take additional passengers who may need assistance or transportation, please consider doing so.”
Anyone who needs help with transportation should call 250-774-6122 and evacuees should register on the Evacuee Registration and Assistance website at www.ess.gov.bc.ca, the district said.
The <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/BCWildfire?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#BCWildfire</a> Service is responding to an evolving incident in the <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/FortNelson?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#FortNelson</a> zone. Wildfire G90267, located approximately 12 kilometres southeast of the <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/BCHwy77?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#BCHwy77</a> junction, was detected this afternoon. <a href=”https://t.co/qmM3LSG2Ci”>pic.twitter.com/qmM3LSG2Ci</a>
—@BCGovFireInfo
The B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS) says the fire is “highly visible” from the town, where approximately 3,400 people live according to the most recent census.
The closure of Highway 97 is expected and Highway 77 is closed north of Fort Nelson, according to Drive B.C.
The BCWS website shows the fire burning west of Fort Nelson, 1,600 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, and says it is expected to spread beyond current control lines.
BCWS says the fire is being fought by ground crews and two helicopters that are bucketing water on the blaze, and air tanker support has been requested.
It says that in addition to wildfire service firefighters, members of the local fire department and the RCMP are involved.
The service said in a social media post at 5:25 p.m. that the suspected human-caused fire was half a square kilometre in size, but by 6:30 p.m. it was listed on the service’s website as measuring four square kilometres.
2 other fires prompt evacuation alerts
The fire comes the day after two sleeper fires from 2023 reignited in the area, prompting an evacuation alert and the deployment of crews to the area.
The Nogah Creek and Patry Creek wildfires, both near Fort Nelson went underground for the winter. They became what’s known as sleeper fires — or more menacingly, zombie fires.
This spring, they both reignited after the snow melted and the ground thawed, explained Pedro Roldan-Delgado, an information officer for the B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS).
Wind this weekend may exceed 70 kilometres per hour, and could shift direction rapidly, according to the BCWS. This creates the potential for extreme fire behaviour at both sites.
Rob Fraser, mayor of Northern Rockies Regional Municipality said earlier that residents are apprehensive of the “big dry storm coming through” this weekend.
“These fires are hold-over fires and if the winds pick up in that dry country, we’re looking at a big major spread outside the current fire control area,” Fraser said.
Visible smoke
The Nogah Creek fire is about 60 kilometres east of Fort Nelson, while the Patry Creek fire is about 40 kilometres from the junction of the Alaska Highway and Highway 77.
As of May 10, there are 119 active wildfires in the province, but only nine of those fires are categorized as out of control — including the Patry Creek and Nogah Creek fires.
The BCWS warns that visible smoke is expected in the surrounding areas.
At the advice of the BCWS, the municipality issued an evacuation alert on May 9, warning residents who live near both fires that they need to be ready to evacuate on short notice. Fraser said the areas are mostly uninhabited, but include some oil and gas camps that may house around 30 people each.
“An Incident Management Team will be assuming command in the zone … and additional resources are on standby through the weekend,” said a statement from the BCWS.
Drought conditions
The evacuations and evacuation alerts come as the province reports a snowpack of 66 per cent of normal — a sharp decrease from last year’s 91 per cent. According to the province, it’s creating a significantly elevated drought hazard.
The BCWS has reported that the conditions around both fire areas resemble those of late summer, even though it’s only May.
Fraser said that some locals are critical of the BCWS for not addressing the sleeper fires earlier, including during the winter when the Nogah Creek fire was accessible by road.
“But they didn’t hire their crews until late in March, and so they just didn’t get out there in time to get some of these fires out,” he said.
On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke at a news conference about the 2024 wildfire situation in B.C., and linked the severity of forest fire risks to climate change.
“It is likely to be a very bad forest fire season,” he said, noting that responders are drawing on lessons learned from previous years as they plan for this year’s response.
B.C.’s 2023 wildfire season is widely regarded as the worst on record after about 400 structures were destroyed. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes, and wildfire damage cost insurance companies more than $720 million.