A wildfire in Metro Vancouver’s Belcarra Regional Park was discovered on Wednesday, forcing evacuations in the nearby Village of Anmore.
The fire is burning roughly one kilometre southeast of Sasamat Lake’s White Pine Beach, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS).
The Village of Anmore had a population of just under 2,500 in 2022, according to its website.
Two houses on Fern Drive were evacuated by ground crews, while an initial evacuation alert by the Village of Anmore listed 12 affected properties.
That number grew to 35 properties after the Village of Anmore expanded its evacuation alert at 7:30 p.m. PT Wednesday. The affected areas are along Fern Drive, north of Magnolia Way; along Oak Court; and properties northeast along Crystal Creek Drive.
An evacuation alert means that residents should be ready to leave at a moment’s notice, while an evacuation order means residents should leave immediately.
Firefighting personnel were dispatched across numerous jurisdictions to combat the spread of the wildfire on Wednesday — including from the Sasamat Fire Department, Metro Vancouver, BCWS, Port Moody Fire Department and volunteer crews in the area.
B.C. Hydro said it would close the nearby Buntzen Lake recreation area until further notice due to the wildfire.
People are being asked to stay away from Belcarra Regional Park and Village of Anmore area until it is deemed safe.
The fire measured roughly 1.5 hectares in size as of 6:47 p.m. PT, according to the BCWS.
When crews first arrived at the scene, ground crews weren’t able to access the wildfire directly due to live electrical wires from nearby B.C. Hydro infrastructure, according to Brant Arnold-Smith, a Metro Vancouver incident commander.
“We would have had more headway if we didn’t have those energized transmission lines as as a bit of a barrier for our response,” he told CBC News around 6:30 p.m. PT.
The firefighters instead utilized three helicopters to dump water over the fire.
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As of 8 p.m. PT, the area was successfully dampened from the aviation response, according to Arnold-Smith.
By then, he said B.C. Hydro had cut the power to its infrastructure in the affected area, and ground crews were able to fight the wildfire directly.
Arnold-Smith said 40 firefighters were battling the fire by Wednesday evening.
“We are very fortunate that the conditions presently are not windy. It’s advantageous for our crews. It’s also a lot safer for our crews,” he noted on Wednesday evening.
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