Aggressive wildfire near Clinton forces expanded evacuation order, alert

An aggressive wildfire near the Village of Clinton in British Columbia has prompted expanded evacuation orders and alerts, affecting hundreds of properties. The Fiftynine Creek wildfire, located northwest of Clinton, has grown significantly and is now estimated to be over 10,800 hectares in size.

As of Thursday, approximately 193 properties are under an evacuation order, while another 104 properties are on evacuation alert. The Village of Clinton had previously issued an alert for all properties within its boundaries on Wednesday night. The wildfire was first discovered last Friday.

This is not the only wildfire activity in the province. The Bonanza Creek wildfire, sparked by lightning on Monday, has reached 4,000 hectares and triggered an evacuation order for areas within the South Chilcotin Mountains Provincial Park. Big Creek Park is also under an evacuation alert. Additionally, the Bourgeois Creek fire, discovered Wednesday and measuring 300 hectares, has led to evacuation orders for rural areas around Batnuni Lake and Comstock Lake.

The ongoing wildfire situation has also caused significant disruptions to transportation. Two major highways connecting the Interior with the Lower Mainland remain closed. Highway 1 is closed in both directions at Hell's Gate, forcing evacuees to travel north. Highway 3 is also closed in both directions due to the Norwegian Creek wildfire. Firefighting crews are working to contain these fires, with officials noting extreme fire behavior in some cases, making suppression efforts challenging and dangerous.

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That new start, the fire behaviour was extreme, seeing like a rank 6, rank 5, rank 6 fire behaviour pretty initially after it ignited, which basically means it is burning so vigorously that it’s fairly unsafe for responders to be fighting it.