The City of Port Alberni has declared a state of local emergency in response to a fast-moving wildfire that has burned more than 21.5 square kilometres of forest and triggered evacuations south of the Vancouver Island community. The Mount Underwood wildfire continued to burn out of control Wednesday afternoon, closing the main access road between Port Alberni and Bamfield. “This is unusual fire behaviour for wildfires on Vancouver Island,” the B.C. Wildfire Service said in an update. “We are in the midst of a severe drought and the island has seen very little rain since the end of June.” The fire has knocked out power to hundreds of residents and businesses in the Bamfield area, which is still accessible to residents via logging roads through Youbou. “Bamfield has no power and limited services,” the B.C. Wildfire Service warned in a bulletin. “We are asking people to stay away from Bamfield unless you are a resident; we don’t want any additional pressures to the community by having extra people trying to get there, either by road or by trails.” The Clayoquot Regional District has ordered the evacuation of hundreds of properties along the east side of the Alberni Inlet, south of Port Alberni, while the neighbouring Cowichan Valley Regional District issued an evacuation order for an adjacent rural area between Port Alberni and Nitinat. The Cameron Heights neighbourhood of Port Alberni has been placed under an evacuation alert, with the city urging residents to be prepared to leave their homes on short notice. ‘Expecting further growth’ Karley Desrosiers, a fire information officer with the Coastal Fire Centre, says the fire is not currently threatening the communities of Port Alberni, Bamfield and Youbou, but the blaze is expected to grow without significant precipitation in the forecast. “We are expecting further growth today, primarily on the east flank,” Desrosiers said during a media call Wednesday afternoon. “We can attribute that to the dry conditions, the high daytime temperatures, the wind and the slope, which are all of the factors driving growth on this fire.” The Mount Underwood fire was first discovered Monday and spread rapidly, becoming the largest wildfire on Vancouver Island. Wildfire officials say night vision-equipped helicopters and an air tanker attacked the blaze overnight Tuesday night as the fire reached within 12 kilometres of Port Alberni. The wildfire service says the fire is displaying rank-4 and rank-5 fire behaviour, meaning it is burning at a highly vigorous to extremely vigorous rate. “The terrain that they’re working in is incredibly challenging,” Desrosiers said of the firefighting effort. “This is certainly quite unusual in terms of the size already,” she added. “It’s not common to have wildfires in the thousands of hectares on Vancouver Island, but we can attribute that to the drought.” The Mount Underwood fire is burning less than 20 kilometres southwest of the Wesley Ridge fire, which forced the evacuation of several hundred homes on the north side of Cameron Lake, east of Port Alberni. Some properties in the Little Qualicum Village area remain under evacuation order due to the Wesley Ridge fire, which is believed to have been human caused. Wildfire smoke advisory The fire has prompted Environment Canada to issue a special air quality statement for the inland Vancouver Island region as smoke is expected to remain over the region for the next 24 to 48 hours. “Areas along the west coast of Vancouver Island (Tofino to Sooke) may also experience periods of smoke, but to a lesser degree,” the weather office said in an advisory Wednesday. “As smoke levels increase, health risks increase. Limit time outdoors. Consider reducing or rescheduling outdoor sports, activities and events,” the agency added. “People more likely to be impacted by outdoor air pollution, including people aged 65 and older, pregnant people, infants and young children, people with an existing illness or chronic health condition, and people who work outdoors, should reduce or reschedule strenuous activities outdoors and seek medical attention if experiencing symptoms.” The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Approximately 90 wildfires were burning across B.C. on Wednesday afternoon, 10 of which were classified as out-of-control.
