Environment

Wildfire evacuates northern British Columbia and lower Alaska

by Amy Judd | June 4, 2009 at 02:52 pm

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A huge wildfire is blazing in northern British Columbia and lower Alaska and has forced many to evacuate their homes, and has also closed the Alaska Highway.

Firefighters are working hard to contain the blaze, but the fire has grown to over 100 square kilometres since it began on Monday, and over 60 people have been forced to evacuate from Fireside, Coal River and the Muddy River Indian Reserve and the highway is shut down between Fort Nelson, BC and Watson Lake in the Yukon.

Fire officials said on Thursday that the blaze is showing extreme fire behaviour and is being tackled by 80 firefighters, four helicopters and four pieces of heavy equipment.

A huge fire in southern British Columbia near Lillooet is also about 15 square kilometres in size, in between Tyaughton and Gun Lakes and residents have been evacuated fromt he area.

Gold Bridge, Bralorne and Gun Lake are currently on evacuation alert.

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Uwe Paschen

at 16:26 on June 4th, 2009

More stress on the environment.

<a title="شات صوتي" href="http://www.bnta1.com/">شا (not verified)

at 19:45 on June 4th, 2009

Pam Sims

at 08:08 on June 6th, 2009

I took this photo from my backyard, in Slocan City , BC., on July 29, 2007. A lightening strike started this Springer Creek fire, which burned for weeks. No one was hurt.

Pam Sims has contributed a photo to this story.

JeffHuang

at 16:47 on June 6th, 2009

Another community evacuated:

A new evacuation order has been issued for another community threatened by the Tyaughton Lake forest fire that is raging out of control west of Lillooet and is still being fueled by high winds.

The B.C. Forest Service, on Saturday, said the rural community of Mud Creek has been added to the list of places where residents have been ordered to leave their homes due to the danger. And the communities of Marshall Lake, Liza Lake and Carol Lake have been put on evacuation alert to be told to leave at any time.

The B.C. Forest Service, in news reports, said the fire now covers 3,500 hectares.