All eyes on the skies as weather brings B.C. fire relief — but maybe not for long

In Wells, B.C., there’s relief as residents return to the community after a nearby wildfire forced its evacuation last weekend, the district’s mayor said.

But Ed Coleman said it’s tempered by a “sense of caution” that the reprieve may only be temporary as crews continue to battle the nearby 142-square-kilometre Antler Creek blaze in the central Interior.

“The fire bosses are optimistic — as long as Mother Nature continues to help,” he said.

It’s a similar story in the wider firefighting effort in B.C.

Across much of the province, firefighters have been helped in recent days by rain and cooler temperatures — fire numbers have been dropping, and the number of fires being extinguished has outpaced the number of new starts.

All eyes remain on the forecast, however.

Kim Wright, a fire information officer with the Southeast Fire Centre, said in an interview Friday that hotter-than-normal temperatures were expected to soon return to the region. In Castlegar, where the southeast centre is based, maximum temperatures have been in the mid-20s the past couple days; next week they are forecast by Environment Canada to return to the mid-30s.

“While we are experiencing a brief reprieve from the significant and aggressive fire conditions that we had over the last week and specifically since (July 24), we are expecting this pattern of cooler, more humid conditions to not last for more than a day or two,” Wright said.

Wright noted that some regions including the north had received rain in recent days. But the cold front that passed through the region on Wednesday also brought “instability and winds” that forced crews to switch from fire suppression to structural protection.

Coleman said Wells residents who have been allowed to return remain on evacuation alert, meaning they must be ready to leave again at short notice.

Other evacuation evacuation orders related to the Antler Creek fire, covering Bowron Lake Provincial Park and the Barkerville area, were also downgraded to alerts on Friday.

The Antler Creek blaze remains one of five fires of note in the province, meaning they poses a threat to people or property or are highly visible. But Coleman said the fight against the fire is very “well-resourced.”

Almost 200 firefighters and six helicopters have been assigned to the Antler Creek blaze and surrounding fires that make up the Groundhog fire complex.

Coleman said he would likely go on a helicopter tour of the region with the BC Wildfire Service to assess the damage this weekend. Speaking from an emergency operations centre in Quesnel, he said his attention remains on the returning residents.

“My focus is to deal with 1,000 people and what their needs are — that’s 300 plus citizens and 700 tourists,” he said.

The wildfire service says about 400 fires continue to burn in B.C., down from more than 430 earlier this week. There were about 217 burning out of control, compared to about 260 on Wednesday.

The service said in an update that “fire weather indices have decreased.” But it said thunderstorms bringing rain across the Interior could also bring gusty winds that could fan flames.

It noted that winds from the recent cold front were to blame for the rapid expansion of an out-of-control fire near Golden in southeastern B.C.

The Town of Golden said the 55-square-kilometre Dogtooth Forest Service Road fire destroyed as many as six homes, but assessments are still being done to confirm the damage.

Meanwhile, an evacuation alert had been rescinded for the Village of Ashcroft, which was under threat from the Shetland Creek fire, the same blaze that destroyed at least six homes in the Venables Valley.

The community of Silverton remains on an evacuation order as the Aylwin Creek fire burns nearby, closing Highway 6 between New Denver and Slocan with no timeline for reopening.

The Thompson-Nicola Regional District also issued an evacuation order for four properties on Dunn Lake Road, which is closed for a 22-kilometre stretch north of Barriere due to the 12-square-kilometre Dunn Creek fire.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 26, 2024.

Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press