Despite rainy conditions in the region over the weekend, the Mount Underwood wildfire has now grown to 3,671 hectares.
The blaze is located around halfway between Bamfield and Port Alberni, and in a very short amount of time has become Vancouver Island’s second largest wildfire on record.
According to the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS), the Mount Underwood area received approximately 36 millimetres of rain since last Thursday, which helped suppress the fire immensely.
Due to the precipitation, BCWS says the wildfire has been reduced to primarily, a Rank 1 wildfire—smouldering ground fire with some open flame.
The weather forecast for the beginning of this week calls for overcast skies and moderate temperatures, with more rain coming to the wildfire area on Tuesday, August 19th.
However, BCWS says that a warming and drying trend is expected to begin mid-week, which could lead to an increase in fire activity.
As far as firefighting operations go, BCWS has been working to attack the blaze from many angles, focussing efforts on protecting structures and infrastructure.
An incident management team has been coordinating suppression efforts, leading 160 firefighters, 10 helicopters, 21 pieces of heavy equipment and eight structure protection personnel.
Road closures, power outages and evacuation orders
As of this publication, the Franklin River Road between Port Alberni and Bamfield remains closed.
BCWS says there is currently no risk to the Bamfield to Youbou road; however, the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District (ACRD) is asking the public to avoid unnecessary travel to Bamfield, aside from Bamfield residents.
More information on current road closures can be found via DriveBC.
Due to the wildfire’s rapid expansion, the massive power outage that is impacting all of Bamfield and the surrounding area still remains.
According to BC Hydro, the outage is impacting 528 customers, and stretches from Bamfield, northwards past Nahmint and eastwards to Nitinat Lake.
As for evacuations, two evacuation orders and three alerts remain in place as of this publication.
Evacuation orders require individuals within the impacted zone to leave their homes and places of work, while evacuation alerts require people to be ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice.
The entire area surrounding Mount Underwood (the Bamfield and Cherry Creek Electoral Areas) is currently under an evacuation order, from Bamfield to just south of the City of Port Alberni. This evacuation was ordered by the ACRD.
Additionally, the Cowichan Valley Regional District has issued an evacuation order for Electoral Area F, which borders ACRD land near Mount Underwood.
Furthermore, there have been three evacuation alerts issued for certain areas that could be at risk. This includes alerts issued by the Tseshaht First Nation, the City of Port Alberni and the ACRD.
(More below)
Wesley Ridge wildfire
While the Mount Underwood wildfire continues to grow, the Wesley Ridge wildfire, located just east of Port Alberni on the north banks of Cameron Lake, has now been updated to being ‘under control.’
According to BCWS, the evacuation orders and alerts have been lifted for this blaze and evacuees can now make their way back to their homes.
Thanks to the efforts of structure protection crews, no buildings or homes were lost to the fire.
