Winds expected to drive wildfire towards Kelly Lake, BC, in 'high-risk' situation

The British Columbia Wildfire Service warned Wednesday that incoming winds were expected to drive an out-of-control wildfire towards the community of Kelly Lake, about 80 kilometres south of Dawson Creek in the province's northeast.

Karley Desrosiers, an information officer with the service, told a briefing hosted by the Peace River Regional District that "conditions in the coming days will be dangerous" for the fire, which has triggered a series of evacuation orders and alerts.

She said Monday brought "moderate" winds relative to what's expected Thursday and Friday, but they still drove the Kiskatinaw River blaze to grow by several kilometres in two areas.

Desrosiers described the situation as "very high risk" and urged Kelly Lake residents not to wait until they see smoke or flames to make the decision to leave, as escape routes may be cut off quickly.

Desrosiers said structure protection equipment had been established throughout the community of about 75 residents, and personnel would be present to do "active structure defence and tactical patrols for hot spots" over the next few days.

The Peace River Regional District has issued evacuation orders covering 110 civic addresses, with others subject to evacuation alerts.

Ryan Kirkham, director of the emergency operations centre with the district, said the Transportation Ministry had established blockades to restrict access to areas subject to evacuation order and keep residents away from the blaze.

The blaze spans about 65 square kilometres, the wildfire service's website shows.

Desrosiers told Wednesday's briefing there is a "significant area of continuous fuel" where the fire may continue spreading towards the Alberta boundary.

"The growth could be significant. We did see the fire almost double under more mild winds than are forecast," she said, adding temperatures were also expected to be hotter over the next several days.

The blaze has forced the closure of a stretch of Highway 52 East and hopped over the route in some areas, the wildfire service said in its latest bulletin.

It said westerly winds were expected to reach speeds greater than 50 kilometres per hour on Thursday, picking up to 60 kilometres per hour on Friday.

The service said it's expecting "aggressive and challenging fire behaviour."

There were just under 70 active wildfires across B.C. on Wednesday, with more than 60 per cent classified as burning out of control.

The Kiskatinaw River fire is one of two blazes the service describes as "wildfires of note," the other being the Summit Lake fire, which spans about 26 square kilometres along the Alaska Highway west of Fort Nelson.