Officials urge navigators to stay out of the lakes near a forest fire on the island of Vancouver that has caused evacuation orders for people in hundreds of properties.
The Wesley Ridge forest fire has grown to an estimate of 389 hectares, according to the BC Infire Wildfire service (BCWS) and is between almost 150 forest fires that burn around the province. It is suspected that it was caused by human activity.
At a press conference on Sunday, fire information officer Madison Dahl said that 142 personnel responded to the fire on the banks of the North of Lake Cameron, about 50 kilometers northwest of Nanaimo. That city, with a population of approximately 120,000, is about 90 kilometers northwest of Victoria.
The Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) said that 393 mostly residential properties are under the order of evacuation, which means that residents must go immediately.
Another 238 properties are under evacuation alert, which means that residents must be ready to leave at any time.
A publication on the BC Parks website said there was an evacuation order for all Little Qualicum Falls Park, which has two camps, trails and Picnic facilities.
Douglas Holmes, director of the Emergency Operations Center for the RDN, urges navigators to stay away from Cameron, Spider and Horne Lakes.
According to officials, those lakes near Wesley Ridge’s Blaze are being used by helicopters and fire aircraft to fill with water.
“Any interaction between these airplanes and a personal boat … at best, it will delay the response to fire, and in the worst case, it will be a very difficult and dangerous interaction that we should really avoid,” he said at the press conference.
“So please use common sense in this regard.”
Highway 4, the longest east-west vehicle route on the island remains open, but officials urge all who use the road so as not to stop and look at the fire.
Dahl said the fire along Lake Cameron was burning in inaccessible and challenging terrain “with large amounts of available wood.”
“It will continue to produce smoke as the fire consumes fuels along the slope,” he said.
The region is expected to cool in the next few days, but the area is in a drought period, Dahl said. There may be some rain on Wednesday, but a significant amount would be needed to make a difference in fire.
