Metro Vancouver issues air quality warning over Fraser Valley wildfire, smog levels

Smoke from the Mount Underwood wildfire is seen in this handout photo, southwest of Port Alberni, B.C., on Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout- BC Wildfire Service (Mandatory Credit)

The Fraser Valley Regional District has issued an evacuation alert for properties near a wildfire between Yale and Spuzzum, B.C., while smoke from the blaze has spurred an air quality warning for the province’s eastern Fraser Valley. 

The regional district says the alert covers properties on both sides of the Fraser River between the two communities north of Hope, B.C., due to the Sailor Bar wildfire. 

The BC Wildfire Service says the blaze was discovered Saturday and is believed to be human caused. 

The Metro Vancouver Regional District issued an air quality warning Sunday over elevated smog in the eastern parts of the metro area, and because of elevated wildfire smoke levels caused by the Sailor Bar blaze in the eastern Fraser Valley. 

Metro Vancouver says the smog warning will likely last into Monday, and the warning for fine particulate matter levels will last “until smoke conditions approve.” 

Metro Vancouver says hot weather coupled with “local emissions” is behind the smog levels, and smoky conditions from the blaze north of Yale in the Fraser Canyon can vary widely depending on winds, temperatures and the fire’s behavioural changes. 

The BC Wildfire Service said Sunday that a prolonged heat wave across much of the province will increase fire danger in the coming days. 

The service said in a statement posted on social media that hot and dry weather conditions that began late last week are rapidly drying out forest fuels, warning of the increasing risk of new blazes being sparked.

It said the province’s southern Interior and inland coast will see high temperatures above 30 C, and near 30 C in the central and northern parts of B.C. 

The wildfire service said so-called “crossover conditions” where temperatures exceed relative humidity increase the risk of new fires. 

The service said there’s also a risk of dry lightning in the southern Interior and over the North Cascades over the next three days. 

It said wildfires sparked by lightening since the beginning of this month could become more active, as smoke from holdover fires becomes more visible. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 24, 2025.