B.C. wildfire crews brace for uptick in fire activity as weather heats up again

Crews fighting out-of-control wildfires near Boston Bar, B.C., were taking advantage of favourable weather to attack the blazes directly, before fire activity is expected to pick up after tempered behaviour over the weekend.

B.C. wildfire crews brace for uptick in fire activity as weather heats up again Little growth on twin fires near Boston Bar over weekend amid cooler temperatures Crews fighting out-of-control wildfires near Boston Bar, B.C., were taking advantage of favourable weather to attack the fires directly, before fire activity is expected to pick up after tempered behaviour over the weekend. The size of the Brunswick complex of wildfires, consisting of the Brunswick Creek and Ainslie Creek wildfires, has changed little since last week with a combined size of more than 188 square kilometres after a weekend of rain and cooler weather.

The B.C. Wildfire Service said in an overnight update that crews would take advantage of the reduced fire activity to directly attack the fires along with making sure the Highway 1 corridor through the area remained open. Crews were also working to protect structures near Boothroyd while establishing fire lines on the southwest flank of the Ainslie Creek wildfire. The fires have triggered evacuation orders and alerts for hundreds of properties and destroyed some structures in the Boston Bar area, while Highway 1 was closed last week in the Fraser Canyon community before reopening.

An evacuation alert covering 61 properties near Merritt remains in effect, issued by the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, while the Nooaitch Indian Band had also told residents of its main reserve to get ready to leave on short notice last week. Adam Hart, emergency program coordinator with the City of Merritt, said there's still a "large buffer area" between the city and perimeter of the Ainslie Creek wildfire, but officials were monitoring the situation. "We're keeping an eye on things," he said.

"We wouldn't be paying attention if it weren't a concern, but you know, it's fire season." An air quality warning for the region has since been lifted, and though there's a bit of smoky haze, Hart said the city of about 7,000 residents has been "quite fortunate in that the smoke has mostly avoided our community up to this point." Hart said Merritt has activated its emergency operations centre, but it's a "low-level activation" done out of what he called an "abundance of caution."

A small number of evacuees have arrived in Merritt, and its airport was being used by helicopters as part of the effort to fight the fires, he said. The wildfire service has asked the the public to avoid stopping or speeding on Highway 1 near Boston Bar and issued a reminder that operating a drone near a wildfire is prohibited, saying one of the devices had temporarily halted aerial firefighting operations at the Brunswick Creek wildfire over the weekend.