(Vancouver) Nandini Villeneuve and other residents of the Hare Krishna Village of Saranagati were meeting with emergency personnel from the Thompson-Nicola Regional District Wednesday evening when it was announced that the wildfire engulfing the religious community had worsened.
“It kind of took off and then we were told the meeting was over and you were getting out of here,” M said.me Villeneuve.
She said that when she and the 25 families living in Sarangati left for Cache Creek around 7 p.m., the Shetland Creek fire was racing down the mountain “like lava coming down,” shocking evacuees with its speed.
Mme Villeneuve said the fire was “intense.”
“I have a mountain right in front of me, and it was raging all over the place, all over the mountain range,” she said.
“When we left last night, we didn’t know if we would have a house this morning,” Villeneuve said.
“Aggressive” fire
Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma said the Shetland Creek fire had required “tactical evacuations” as it expanded “rapidly and dramatically” on Wednesday night to cover nearly 50 square kilometres.
Mme Ma was in Kamloops, about 100 kilometres east of the fire. She told a news conference the situation was “very dynamic” but could not confirm the exact number of people evacuated.
The Thompson-Nicola Regional District’s evacuation order covers 76 properties in the Venables Valley area, north of Spences Bridge.
Cliff Chapman, BC Wildfire Service’s Director of Provincial Operations, has joined Mme Ma and mentioned during the briefing that the Shetland Creek fire had exhibited “aggressive” behavior Wednesday night, challenging their suppression efforts.
Chapman said the wildfire service deployed its night-vision-equipped aircraft to a fire for the first time this year, flying over Penticton to assist ground crews battling the Shetland Creek fire.
An incident management team was being set up in the area on Thursday, he said.
Critical period
There are approximately 230 active fires in British Columbia, with more than 90 starting in the last 24 hours. Just over half are classified as burning out of control.
As of early last week, fewer than 100 fires were burning across the province.
Mr Chapman said he believed the province was “on the verge of a very difficult 72 hours” with hot, dry weather, dry lightning and strong winds in the forecast.
To all British Columbians, my message is to be diligent. We are going to see lightning. We saw 1,300 lightning strikes (Wednesday), many of which sparked fires in the southeast, and we will see more (Thursday).
Cliff Chapman, Director of Provincial Operations for the BC Wildfire Service
He said at the briefing that he had not heard of any damage to structures from the fire near Spences Bridge, although they were “threatened” structures.
The regional district’s evacuation order instructed residents to report to the emergency services reception centre at the nearby Cache Creek Community Hall.
New fires
The Cook’s Ferry Indian Band also expanded an evacuation order related to the same fire to include additional reserves along the Thompson River.
The fire was discovered last Friday and later merged with the smaller Teit Creek fire. Lightning is the suspected cause.
The forecast for Cache Creek, north of the Shetland Creek wildfire, shows a daily high of 40C on Thursday, 38C on Friday and 40C over the weekend.
Another fire was discovered Thursday on the east side of Slocan Lake in southeastern B.C., also prompting the Central Kootenay Regional District to issue an evacuation order. It covers 11 properties along Highway 6 south of the community of New Denver.
Environment Canada has issued more than two dozen heat warnings across British Columbia, covering Howe Sound and Whistler, the Fraser Canyon, parts of the Thompson, Okanagan and Kootenay regions, the interior portions of the north and central coasts, the northeast corner of the province and much of the central interior.
A wildfire bulletin Thursday said hot, dry conditions mean the landscape is primed for more fires.