Wildfire near Pemberton triggers evacuation alert on Lil'wat First Nation

Grass fire out after coming close to homes A large grass fire near Pemberton has been extinguished after coming dangerously close to several homes.

A small wildfire that triggered an evacuation alert for more than a dozen homes in the area of Mount Currie was under control by Wednesday afternoon.

The grass fire broke out in the small community east of Pemberton at around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, quickly spreading across 50 hectares as strong winds fanned the flames.

The Lil'wat First Nation set up an emergency operations centre and issued evacuation alerts for 15 properties near the fire.

The B.C. Wildfire Service said local crews from Mount Currie and Pemberton were leading the firefighting effort with some provincial assistance.

"We had 14 firefighters out there at about 5 p.m. last night to assist those two fire departments," fire information officer Dorothe Jakobsen told CTV News. "We'll be returning eight firefighters today."

The First Nation's Chief Operations Officer Ernest Armann told The Canadian Press crews patrolled the blaze overnight. A few hydro poles were burned and will need to be replaced, and a falling tree briefly knocked out power, but electricity has since been restored.

It's unclear how the fire started, but officials suspect it was human-caused.

With files from The Canadian Press