Some Evacuation Orders To Be Lifted Near Mont Underwood Wildfire

There is some good news as crews continue to battle the Mount Underwood wildfire, south of Port Alberni.

Some evacuation orders, in place for more than a week, have been downgraded to evacuation alerts.

The fire is currently listed at about 36-hundred hectares thanks to more accurate mapping. Rank 1 and 2 fire behaviour has been observed, with mostly smoldering ground fire and some open flame in areas where recent rain didn’t reach the forest floor.

The Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District and the City of Port Alberni continue to have the Emergency Operations Centre activated, and the EOC is continuing to monitor the situation.

The main road access to Bamfield, B.C., remains closed for a stretch between the community and Port Alberni.

The B.C. Wildfire Service says significant rainfall in the area over the weekend helped reduce fire behaviour at Mount Underwood, and another eight millimetres of rain fell on the blaze on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, BC Hydro crews have begun work to restore power to Bamfield and surrounding areas, with dozens of hydro poles needing to be replaced.

Roughly 500 residents and community members are affected by the outage.

On the weekend, BC Hydro had estimated power could be out for a couple of weeks.