Over the Labour Day long weekend, several new wildfires were discovered across Vancouver Island.
Despite the uptick in new wildfires, BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) have deemed all fires on the island as either ‘being held’ or ‘under control.’
Three of the new wildfires were discovered in Vancouver Island’s central interior, west of Campbell River.
All three, dubbed V81844, V81851 and V81820, are smaller than 0.009 hectares in size and were discovered on Sunday, August 31st. The cause of these fires are still under investigation, according to BCWS.
Prior to this weekend, there were three larger-scale wildfires located near Port Alberni and Bamfield: the Nahmint Mountain wildfire, the Wesley Ridge wildfire and the Mount Underwood wildfire.
Of those, the Mount Underwood blaze is the only one that is designated as being held, rather than under control. It is still 3,518 hectares in size and still has one evacuation order, as well as one evacuation alert in effect.
Additionally, the Franklin River Road between Port Alberni and Bamfield remains closed.
West of Nanaimo, there are three active wildfires, two of which are small and were discovered over the long weekend. The largest of the three, the Manson Creek wildfire, has been determined to now be under control and should not grow beyond 8.4 hectares in size.
One new wildfire was discovered in the southernmost region of Vancouver Island along Highway 14, just west of Jordan River. It too has been determined to be under control and is only 0.009 hectares in size.
In addition to the 10 active wildfires on Vancouver Island, this past weekend saw an influx of new wildfires throughout BC.
As of this publication, the total number of active wildfires across BC is now 169.
