As of Wednesday, August 20th, one evacuation order and two evacuation alerts have been rescinded by regional governments and First Nations surrounding the Mount Underwood wildfire.
The blaze was discovered on August 11th and quickly grew to be the second largest wildfire in Vancouver Island’s recorded history.
Since the weekend, the wildfire has marginally shrunk to be 3,603 hectares in size, as crews continue to battle the fire.
This progress has prompted the evacuation order put in place for Electoral Area F by the Cowichan Valley Regional District to be rescinded.
Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District’s evacuation order remains in effect, though some areas have been downgraded to an evacuation alert.
Additionally, the Tseshaht First Nation, the City of Port Alberni have also rescinded their evacuation alerts.
See the map below for details on where is currently under evacuation order/alert:
Wildfire operations response
BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) says that the region surrounding Mount Underwood received an additional 8.4 millimetres of rain on Tuesday, bringing the five-day precipitation total to around 44 millimetres.
This rain, in combinations with firefighters’ efforts, has helped minimize wildfire activity. BCWS says the blaze is currently Rank 1—meaning it is a smouldering ground fire with little or no open flame.
Warm and dry conditions for the next four to five days, which may mean more smoke being expelled from the fire. BCWS says this may help crews identify and target priority areas for suppression.
Outages, road closures and air quality
The Franklin River Road between Port Alberni and Bamfield still remains closed.
Additionally, BCWS says there is currently no risk to the Bamfield to Youbou road. Despite the road being open into Bamfield from the south, the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District (ACRD) is asking the public to avoid unnecessary travel to Bamfield, aside from Bamfield residents.
Those looking for up-to-date road closure information can find resources through DriveBC.
As for power outages, BC Hydro is still working on returning power to Bamfield and its surrounding communities who have been without electricity since August 12th.
BC Hydro estimates that around 528 customers have been, and continue to be impacted by this outage.
As of this publication, air quality should not be a concern to those around Mount Underwood. Environment Canada lifted their air quality warning in the region as of Monday, August 18th.
