The entire Village of Pemberton is on evacuation alert due to an out-of-control wildfire burning nearby.
The Signal Hill fire was reported late on Wednesday afternoon, about five kilometres south of Highway 99, and is now estimated to be 38 hectares in size.
It is believed to be human-caused and out of control.
Christi Howes, a fire information officer with the BC Wildfire Service, told Global News that the fire is burning in heavy timber. It’s a rank two to three, which means it’s a low to moderately vigorous surface fire, has visible open flames, occasional candling along the perimeter, and is moving at a moderate rate of speed.
It is also producing heavy smoke visible from the highway and the village.
Get breaking National news
“So BC Wildfire is working together with the Pemberton Fire Department,” Howes said.
“We have multiple crews responding at this time with support from helicopters today as well. Crews and aircraft worked throughout the night last night. We had helicopters and skimmers yesterday.”
Helicopters and an air tanker were bringing water over from a nearby lake.
“It took a while for the first helicopters to get on board,” Pemberton resident Christyne Gillis said.
“So we were all just kind of watching it burn there for quite some time, and then they sent in a couple of helicopters and they dropped … pretty good-sized loads. But in comparison to the smoke and the fire, it really didn’t look like it was doing that much.”
The evacuation alert was issued for the village just before midnight.
An evacuation order is also in place for One Mile Lake Park on Highway 99 to provide working space for crews fighting the blaze.
Pemberton Mayor Mike Richman told Global News that there is a strong response to the fire on Thursday.
“There’s a ton of resources on it through BC Wildfire Service helicopters, planes, ground crew. They work through the night, and they’re hitting it hard right now,” he said.
“It’s unnerving. It’s stressful to look and see a fire that close to the community. We’ve never had that before; I get that, but I just want people to remember to stay calm, stay informed, be prepared. The information is out there; it’s being activated with a ton of resources right now. And here at the village, we’ll be putting out information as it as it’s updated.”
Time for the Americans to start complaining about their air quality, already started on TikTok