BC wildfire grows as large as a city, delays start to school year

“The Battleship fire is estimated at 11,949 hectares,” BC Wildfire Service fire information officer Sarah Hall told CBC News.

“We were expecting some large winds to impact the fire yesterday, and we didn’t see that happen. So we’re still expecting to see some slightly weakened winds today.”

The Battleship Mountain wildfire is just about 50 kilometres west of the district municipality of Hudson’s Hope.

Due to the fire’s growth and proximity, Hudson’s Hope has declared a local state of emergency and issued evacuation orders for residents of the western section of the district. CBC News reported that the fire delayed the start of the school year for many local students.

“The issue is … they need every staff back in the building to really come up with a good plan in case there was an evacuation order,” said School District 60 school board trustee Nicole Gillis, who added that staff are meeting with the Emergency Operations Centre as well as the district fire chief to create a plan in the event an evacuation order is issued while students are at school.

Environment Canada has issued a thunderstorm risk warning for the Cariboo, Prince George, North Peace and Stuart-Nechako regions, as officials warn that more than 70% of wildfires this year were sparked by lightning.

Read more: Out-of-control wildfire causes extended power outage for Alberta town

Such was the case with the out-of-control wildfire at Chetamon Mountain in Alberta, which sparked from a lightning strike last Thursday. The 6,150 hectare-wide fire is responsible for the extended power outages in nearby Jasper.