As Fort Nelson fire tops 4,100 hectares, mayor says community bracing for high winds

The Parker Lake fire close to Fort Nelson continues to grow, according to the BC Wildfire service.

As of Sunday afternoon, it was listed at just over 4,100 hectares and has forced nearly 3,500 residents to evacuate, officials say.

Rob Fraser, mayor of the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality, says the community is bracing for high winds to push the nearby wildfire directly toward the town.

He says there are about 37 households in Fort Nelson and another 28 in the surrounding area which have not heeded an order to evacuate.

Fraser says crews are doing everything in their power to prevent the fire from moving in if westerly winds pick up.

“Just pray that the winds don’t come from the west, or maybe they go northwest, which will help them blow it south of the community, and that would really help us,” he said. “But we’re as ready as we can be with the assistance from the province to make the last stand.”

In a separate situation, an evacuation alert was upgraded to an evacuation order just after 11 a.m. for the 15,000-hectare Fontas-area fire, southeast of Fort Nelson.

The Northern Rockies Regional Municipality says the wind “has the real potential to significantly increase the size of the fires over the next 48 hours,” and Fort Nelson’s emergency operations centre itself is relocating south later today.

Structure protection personnel in Fort Nelson and neighbouring communities are beginning to construct a structure defence plan for the Old Alaska Highway community.

On Saturday, NRRM Mayor Rob Fraser said the wildfire started when a tree blown down by strong winds fell onto a power line.

Smoke from the Parker Lake fire has spread into Alberta, bringing poor air quality and reduced visibility while that province deals with multiple fires of its own, including one burning out of control near Fort McMurray that has communities on evacuation alert.

With files from The Canadian Press.