Wildfires in B.C. prompt evacuations as hot, dry conditions persist

Emergency crews are facing hot and dry conditions as wildfires continue to spread across British Columbia.

BC Wildfire Service says the Fiftynine Creek wildfire, which is burning out of control northwest of Clinton, B.C., has grown to more than 102 square kilometres and has triggered an evacuation order and alerts.

The Thompson-Nicola Regional District in the southern Interior announced an overnight expansion of an evacuation order south of Clinton, due to the out-of-control Pear Lake fire.

Earlier, Kevin Skrepnek, the district’s manager of community and emergency services, said structures on about 20 properties in the region were “impacted” by the fires, with the damage ranging from melted siding to a complete burn-down.

The RCMP in the Fraser River Regional District say people are urged to comply with all evacuation orders and alerts issued by local authorities in the Boston Bar area, about 200 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.

District authorities upgraded an evacuation alert to an order just before midnight, covering the Hells Gate to Alexandra Lodge area, south of the town, warning any holdouts to flee as the Fraser Canyon community is now surrounded by flames.

Elsewhere, the entire city of Kimberley in southeast B.C. is under evacuation alert due to the nearby Bootleg Complex of wildfires, including a cluster of wildfires burning west of the city.

Hugh Murdoch, incident commander on Bootleg Complex fires, says there are seven fires that firefighters are closely watching in the region, and he is happy to share that the fire behaviour “has been held in check for the most part.”

But Murdoch says that the weather forecast “is far from favourable,” as there was “no rain in sight” and the temperatures are above seasonal normal for the foreseeable future,

They are among the 89 blazes that the wildfire service says are burning across the province.