Smoke is shown from a major wildfire in southeastern B.C. in this image provided by the BC Wildfire Service. The Canadian Press/Handout-BC Wildfire Service
The entire city of Kimberley, B.C., in the province’s southeast region near the Alberta boundary has been placed on evacuation alert due to an out-of-control wildfire.
The Regional District of East Kootenay says more than 8,000 residents have been warned to be ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice.
The nearby fire is nearly six square kilometres in size, as a rash of lightning strikes and new blazes sparked in the province over the weekend.
Kimberley’s acting mayor, Sandra Roberts, says in the evacuation alert notice that residents would be given as much advance notice as possible but fire conditions are fast-changing.
There are four other fires across B.C. with wildfire-of-notice designation, meaning they are threatening public safety and critical infrastructure or are highly visible.
The number of active fires in B.C. has spiked over the weekend to about 102, with hundreds of properties evacuated or on alert in the Boston Bar area in the Fraser Canyon.
The BC Wildfire Service says the fire near Kimberley started at high elevation and in steep and mountainous terrain, and combined with strengthening fire behaviour it’s making it unsafe for crews to attack directly.
It says firefighters have been setting up control lines and using existing natural barriers, including roads and trails.
