One of BC’s Biggest Fires Expected To Get Bigger

One of the BC’s oldest wildfires of the summer is expected to make some noise again.

The Elephant Hill Fire — which started near Ashcroft almost 2 months ago — is expected to grow on its northern flank this weekend.

“We are expecting winds upwards of 40 km-h in the area of this fire and that is certainly going to be a challenge,” says Kevin Skrepnek from the BC Wildfire Service. “So we are reminding people in that area, if they are under evacuation alert, they need to be prepared to leave within 30 minutes. We’re in discussion with the Cariboo Regional District as to whether there needs to be expansions to some of the orders and alerts already in place.”

Skrepnek says that is a popular vacation area, but given the fire danger, they are advising people to avoid that region for the next while.

The Elephant Hill Fire is over 186,000 hectares in size and 50% contained.

463 firefighters are working on it.

The wildfire that crossed into BC from Washington state this week, continues to grow.

Skrepnek says they are keeping an eye on the Diamond Creek Fire, which is currently burning in fairly remote territory.

“This fire has been causing quite a bit of the smoke we’re seeing the Southern interior right now. the part of the fire in Canada is estimated at a little over 2,000 hectares in size. The fire itself is a little over 24 thousand hectares.”

Skrepnek says they are working with the US Forest Service to monitor the fire, and to map out strategy.

The weather is expected to be unseasonably warm for the Labour Day long weekend — and that’s a big concern for fire officials.

Skrepnek says they expect some major challenges.

“Certainly this is a big focus for us. What we’re seeing in the next few days and next week is going to be potentially unprecedented in terms of temperatures and conditions for September.”

He says very little — if any — rain is expected for the southern part of the province.

There’s been 22 new fires since Thursday, with a total of 161 burning.