Wildfires burning across Vancouver Island after lightning storm

Ten wildfires are blazing across Vancouver Island after a lightning storm Wednesday.

All of the fires are centred around the Barkley Sound area, with fires reported near the communities of Port Alberni, Ucluelet, Bamfield and Buttle Lake.

Gordon Robinson, fire information officer with the BC Wildfire Service, says around 100 lightning strikes hit the island, sparking the fires. He says more could be on the way.

“With lightning strikes it is possible that more will pop up over the next few days. They don’t always flare up to something visible,” said Robinson.

(Photo credit: BC Wildfire Service)

As of 10:45 a.m. on Thursday, three of the 10 fires are considered “out of control” but all fires are under a hectare in size.

He says that with lightning, there’s not much crews can do except prepare for the inevitable.

“When lightning comes, we’re going to get fires,” said Robinson. “There’s nothing we can really do to prevent that. We just need to be ready to respond quickly.”

Robinson says fire season on the island has been slow, and the recent ones make up a large portion of the total number of fires so far.

“There have been relatively few fires on Vancouver Island so far this year,” he explained. “The last count we’ve had 25 fires on the island so far this season and 10 of those started yesterday.”

He says while the fires aren’t a danger to any communities yet, he warns people need to be ready for anything.

“We’d like everybody to remain vigilant, especially with things like lightning-caused fires.”

Related links:

• Severe thunderstorm watch issued for interior, northern B.C.

• Keremeos Creek wildfire: Tactics change as temperatures drop

• Controlled burns play key role in Keremeos Creek wildfire response

Keremeos Creek wildfire

The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) downgraded the evacuation order issued to the community of Olalla to an evacuation alert Thursday.

As well, the alert has been lifted for the “VIllage of Keremeos and rural Keremeos.”

On Wednesday, the RDOS rescinded the evacuation order for selected properties along Highway 3A.

They add that Highway 3A will remain closed.

With a change of weather, tactics have started to shift for fire crews battling the Keremeos Creek wildfire burning in the B.C. Interior.

The fire has continued to grow, now burning at 67 square kilometres, but recent updates show no new properties are threatened.

Bryan Zandberg with the BC Wildfire Service said Wednesday that crews were planning to continue controlled burns but cooler temperatures have them pivoting.

“We’ve got some precipitation up on the fire … and that just changes your ignition plan,” explained Zandberg. “We’ve sort of shifted some of our operations just to a lot more mop up, cooling down really key areas of the fire, again, with the objective of getting people back into their homes.”

“A lot of work has been going on just to get everything really cool down in there for this transition to getting people back.”

All the latest updates can be found on the BC Wildfire Services dashboard.