Growing wildfire in central B.C. believed to be human-caused

CENTRAL B.C. (NEWS 1130) —  A wildfire that broke out Saturday has led to a regional state of emergency being declared for a rural community west of Prince George.

The fire west of Fraser Lake grew to 260 hectares within hours, and evacuation orders are now in place.

Investigators believe it was human caused.

About 20 firefighters are battling the blaze along with air tankers.

“It is a large area that the evacuation order covers, but there aren’t that many homes. There are only about a half dozen homes. RCMP and search and rescue teams administered the evacuation orders,” says Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako chair Gerry Thiessen.

“Well certainly the fire came up quite quickly. It started out small. With the wind it gathered momentum.”

He says another 30 homes have been placed on evacuation alert.

He is struck by how early the fire season started this year.

“Right now we seem to be seeing fires earlier and earlier. I think this is one of the earliest fires of this size and magnitude.”

Stephen Rehncy spoke to NEWS 1130 about the growing cloud of smoke he saw about an hour south of Burns Lake.

“I am seeing a huge massive fire over the mountains, it’s really thick, dark grey to reddish-bluish smoke. It looks like it’s getting bigger and bigger,” he says. “Where the sun was shining, all the smoke is now starting to cover the sun.”

He was driving down Highway 16 out of Burns Lake when he saw the smoke.

“I’m seeing it all right now. The whole sky that started to turn dark as one cloud of the mountains,” he says. “As I’m speaking to you, it’s getting worse.”

Molly Blower from the Prince George Fire Centre says crews are moving in.

“It is highly visible from the community of Fraser Lake and from Highway 16,” she says.

The area on fire is a mixture of both grass and timber.

Vanderhoof and Burns Lake, two towns in the area, saw record-breaking temperatures this past week.

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