The officials of the British Columbia warn about dangerous conditions for a forest fire on the bc-alberta border in the Northeast of BC, which has already resulted in evacuation orders.
The Kiskatinaw river forest fire grew significantly from Tuesday to Wednesday, expanding south of Dawson Creek, BC, about 750 kilometers northeast of Vancouver, from just under 40 square kilometers to an area of 65 square kilometers.
It has turned out that 110 civic addresses have been put in the evacuation order in the areas of Kelly Lake and One Island Lake. The 52 EAST highway remains closed in the area due to the fire, which is burning near the Steeprock Pembina gas processing installation.
At a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, officials warned that strong winds are ready to push the fire near the Kelly Lake area, and urged anyone who is still in their homes to leave as soon as they can.
“The conditions in the next few days will be dangerous,” said Fire Information Officer Karley Desrosiers to journalists. “We expect significant growth of forest fires as winds increase during the week.”
DESOSIERS said the winds will reach up to 50 km/h on Thursday and up to 60 km/h on Friday and push the forest fire to the east and northeast.
“This is a very high risk situation,” said the fire information officer. “I would urge residents in Kelly Lake: don’t wait until I see smoke or fire to make the decision to leave.
“The output routes can be cut very quickly, and the situation can change very, very quickly.”
The authorities said that until now they had registered 55 evacuated in the nearby city of Dawson Creek, and they hope that others will stay with family or friends in Alberta.
They did not provide an exact number of how many stay, but they also said they did not know any damage due to infrastructure due to the fire.
Drosiers said there was a fleet of 11 helicopters that blocked the fire with water, as well as more than 100 firefighters on the floor.
“Unfortunately, with the behavior of the fire we expect, we will not be able to sustain the fire with cubes alone and [it’s] Certainly, it will be too risky and dangerous to put firefighters at the head of this, “said the officer.
In a statement issued on Wednesday night, BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) warned of strong winds in the northeast section of the province this weekend, with two cold fronts that bring winds of 70 km/h on Friday, as well as Sunday to Monday.
“After a period of warm and dry conditions, these strong winds are expected to boost the extreme behavior and growth of fire toward East in all forest fires within Dawson Creek’s fire zones, Fort St. John and Fort Nelson, “the service said.
Fogata prohibitions enter into force
On Thursday at noon, the local time, the BCWS will apply a prohibition of category 1 fires in the north and northeast end of the province.
The fires, which are found in category 1, include all the smaller fires half a meter in size. Prohibitions do not include the use of outdoor stoves, but prohibit the use of fireworks, sky lanterns and torchi torches.
Anyone who violates the ban could be beaten with a rape ticket of $ 1,150, an administrative fine of up to $ 10,000 or fines of up to $ 100,000 and one year in jail if it is declared guilty in court.
The service says that if a forest fire is activated, the responsible person could have to pay all fire fighting costs.
It occurs as most of the forest fire activity of the province, so far, it has been limited to the northern half of the province, particularly to the northeast section.
Of the 65 active forest fires of the province, until Wednesday afternoon, 62 are in the northern half of the province. The Northeast BC corner has been particularly affected by a drought of several years.
The Summit Lake Wildfire west Fort Nelson continues to affect the Alaska highway, which is currently open to alternate traffic of a single lane until Wednesday afternoon.
Travelers have been asked to review DRIVEBC to obtain the latest in the section, without deviation available, although it had closed and reopened to the alternative traffic of a single lane again on Tuesday night.
