Several buildings have burned to the ground as two wildfires continue to rage in B.C.’s Fraser Canyon, though officials say the situation is too dangerous to check how many have been hit. The Ainslie Creek fire nearly doubled in size overnight to about 170 square kilometres, while the Brunswick Creek blaze on the other side of the Fraser River has burned about 26 square kilometres. Both fires now comprise what officials refer to as the Brunswick Complex fire. Staff at Blue Lake Resort, located just north of Boston Bar, have been watching the destruction on live cameras from more than 100 kilometres away. Owner Shayne Findlay says a number of structures have been lost. “We got hit really hard last night,” he told CTV News on Wednesday. “I was looking at the cameras last night and the wind and the embers, it was a hellstorm. You couldn’t believe it.” All he can do is sit back and hope for the best. “It’s going to be different again tomorrow. We don’t know what will make it,” he said. Hundreds of properties have been ordered to evacuate and a new order was issued Wednesday night for addresses in the Nahatlatch and North Boothroyd areas. Seven evacuation orders were in effect Thursday, covering four areas within the Fraser Valley Regional District, two in the Boston Bar First Nation and another in the Boothroyd Indian Band. Three evacuation alerts were also in place for properties within the regional district, including much of the community of Boston Bar itself, as well as on the Nooaitch First Nation lands and in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District. Highway 1 remains closed in both directions for a 10.5-kilometre stretch through the fire zone. Situation ‘very dynamic and volatile’ Firefighters from surrounding communities have deployed to protect structures, and officials fear high winds could threaten more areas. Officials say the situation is likely to get worse before it gets better. “The situation remains very dynamic and volatile and changing,” Patricia Ross with the Fraser Valley Regional District told CTV News. The B.C. Wildfire Service says 221 firefighters are assigned to both fires, with 14 helicopters and 34 pieces of heavy equipment assisting in the operations. Sixty-one structure protection personnel are also assigned to the blaze and are being helped by firefighters from several municipal departments in the area. Smoke from the fires caused poor air quality in parts of the B.C. Interior and into the Alberta mountain communities of Banff and Canmore. Environment Canada is urging residents in the areas to avoid strenuous outdoor activities until the air-quality alerts have lifted. “We’re not seeing a weather system coming in dumping a bunch of rain or anything to change things a whole ton, so I do suspect overnight those low air qualities to come back,” Environment Canada forecaster Morgen Shull told CTV News. The provincial wildfire service says fire behaviour within the Brunswick Complex region reached “highly vigorous” levels in some areas Thursday, especially on steeper, sloping terrain. “Some torching of trees along the southern edge of the Brunswick Creek wildfire will be visible from Boston Bar,” the wildfire service said in an update. “We are operating 24 hours a day on the complex fires. Our night vision-equipped helicopter groups are heli-tanking, and we have crews assigned to the overnight period to continue with direct attack and patrols.” The agency says its priorities remain the safety of responders and the protection of communities and critical infrastructure, including Highway 1. With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Ben Nesbit
