BURST
Residents of 70 Mile House, a community on Highway 97 in B.C.’s Cariboo region, have been told to leave their homes as an evacuation order for a wildfire north of Clinton was expanded Monday.
The evacuation order for the Pear Lake blaze, which fire officials say has now merged with the out-of-control Fiftynine Creek wildfire, now includes about 583 properties, according to the Thompson-Nicola Regional District.
This includes the entire Village of Clinton and, as of Monday afternoon, communities in 70 Mile House and along Meadow Lake Road. Officials confirmed last week that some houses had been damaged or destroyed in the flames.
The B.C. Wildfire Service says the combined size of the Pear Lake and Fiftynine Creek fires is nearly 670 square kilometres. There are now six evacuation orders and three evacuation alerts because of this fire.
The more than 283-square-kilometre French Bar Creek fire, located to the north at Big Bar Creek, has prompted three evacuation orders and five evacuation alerts.
Fire officials say hot and dry conditions, along with wind gusts of up to 50 kilometres per hour were likely to exacerbate extreme fire, leading to further growth.
Where the fire has crossed Highway 97, east of Clinton it is burning into an old burn scar, which is helping to decrease fire activity, the service said in an update late Monday. Officials said fire crews are focusing on structure defence in Clinton.
As of Friday morning, there were 139 wildfires torching the province, including 16 new wildfires igniting over 24 hours. Of those, more than 50 are considered out of control and four are wildfires of note.
More to come …