Quadra Island Wildfire On Being Held, Mount Underwood Wildfire Grows To 2,200 Hectares

A small wildfire, discovered on Quadra Island this week, is being held.

On Wednesday, crews managed to keep things under control and hold the blaze, which is about .15 hectares in size (15-hundred square meters).

The Mount Underwood Fire near Port Alberni has now grown to about 22-hundred hectares.

Discovered on Monday afternoon, the Mount Underwood Fire continues to burn out of control, located off the road between Port Alberni and Bamfield (the Bamfield Main Road), approximately 12 kilometres south of Port Alberni and 19 kilometres southwest of the Wesley Ridge wildfire.

Several communities have issued evacuation alerts or orders and the road between Port Alberni and Bamfield, which has no power, is closed.

BC Wildfire Service says it is unusual for wildfires on Vancouver Island. In the midst of a drought, the island has seen very little rain since the end of June.

Also, strong winds flowing up the Alberni Inlet pushed the fire aggressively uphill, which accounts for the high fire behaviour.

Crews are hoping the forecast stays true with cooler conditions and some rain for Friday, which will assist with response efforts - however, it will take significant rain to have a meaningful impact.

An Incident Management Team has taken over command of Mount Underwood fire as well as the Wesley Ridge fire, north of Cameron Lake.

That wildfire is being held. While some resources from Wesley Ridge have responded to Mount Underwood, BC Wildfire Service says they are well-resourced on both fires.

Meanwhile, a drone was reported flying in the vicinity of the Mount Underwood wildfire on Tuesday - something BC Wildfire Service says is extremely dangerous and poses a significant safety risk to personnel, especially when low-flying firefighting aircraft are present.

Anyone found interfering with wildfire control efforts (including flying drones or UAVs) can face penalties up to $100,000 and/or up to one year in jail.

Transport Canada and the BC Wildfire Service explicitly prohibit the use of UAVs or drones of any size near a wildfire.

The restricted airspace automatically includes a radius of five nautical miles around any smoke or fire and to an altitude of 3,000 feet above ground level.

For more Information, visit BC Wildfire Service.