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A Vancouver Island wildfire continues to grow out of control Wednesday.
The Mount Underwood fire is now 16.18 square kilometres (1,618 hectares), located more than 10 kilometres south of Port Alberni, B.C., a small city home to about 19,000 people.
More than 500 properties in the Bamfield and Anacla areas are still without power due to the fire, according to B.C. Hydro’s outage list. Those properties haven’t had power since around 6 p.m. PT Monday.
The Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District (ACRD) has said the power is expected to be out for longer than 72 hours.
Evacuation orders have been issued by the ACRD and Cowichan Valley Regional District for a mix of commercial, industrial and recreational properties.
Mount Underwood wildfire near Port Alberni rages out of control
Julia Caranci, fire information officer with the B.C. Wildfire Service, said this “extreme” fire behaviour is unusual for Vancouver Island.
“We are in the midst of a severe drought,” she said at a news conference Tuesday. She noted strong winds had pushed the fire “aggressively” uphill.
The fire rapidly expanded Tuesday, ballooning from about 6.3 square kilometres Monday night to almost 14.5 square kilometres Tuesday night.
“In the seven years I’ve worked for the Coastal Fire Centre, I don’t think I’ve seen a fire like this on Vancouver Island,” Caranci said.
She said the “unprecedented” dry conditions, combined with the strong winds, hot weather and steep, rugged terrain, came together to contribute to the fire’s growth.
“When the temperature is rising and the relative humidity falls, and we have strong winds pushing on a new incident, we can see that explosive type of growth. Again, we don’t normally see that on fires on Vancouver Island.”
Wildfire officers do not expect the upcoming rain to have a strong impact on the current fire behaviour, Caranci said.
“We are responding, and we are doing everything we can,” she said.
B.C. Wildfire Service crews, including five helicopters and five skimmers, are responding to the fire.
The service said there is no threat to Bamfield or Port Alberni at this time, but has asked non-residents to stay away from Bamfield, an unincorporated community with about 300 year-round residents, to avoid putting more pressure on the community.
