Thousands ordered to evacuate Fort Nelson, B.C., due to wildfire

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Residents of Fort Nelson, as well as the Fort Nelson First Nation, have been told to leave their homes immedi‐ ately due to the threat of wildfire. Evacuees are being told to drive south to Fort St. John to the North Peace Arena, located at 9805 96 Ave. Those who cannot drive themselves are urged to call 250-755-0933 for support. For emergencies, dial 911. Some phone services have been knocked out by wild‐ fires in the region. Highways 97 and 77 north of Fort Nel‐ son have both been closed due to wildfire.

Residents of the town of Fort Nelson and Fort Nelson First Nation have been or‐ dered to evacuate due to an out-of-control wildfire in northeast B.C., according to an evacuation order issued by the Northern Rockies Re‐ gional Municipality (NRRM) and the nation shortly before 7:30 p.m. PT on Friday.

"Residents are advised to evacuate the area immedi‐ ately and begin driving south towards Fort St. John. If you have a recreational vehicle, or your own vehicle, fuel sta‐ tions are being planned along the route south," the NRRM said in a Facebook post.

"If you know of and have the ability to take additional passengers who may need assistance or transportation, please consider doing so."

Fort Nelson is located in northeast B.C. near the bor‐ der with Yukon, about 1,600 kilometres northeast of Van‐ couver and 500 kilometres north of Prince George.

Evacuees should report to the the North Peace Arena at 9805 96 Avenue in Fort St Jo‐ hn - about 380 kilometres southeast of Fort Nelson said Jessica Harrison, an in‐ formation officer for Fort St. John Emergency Support Ser‐ vices.

More than 3,000 people are impacted by the order.

WATCH | Wildfire visible from Fort Nelson. B.C.:

Long drive for evacuees Residents will be facing a roughly four hour drive on a single-lane highway along with hundreds of others and are urged to use caution.

Harrison says they are ex‐ pecting more than 3,000 peo‐ ple in the next 18 hours and have enough hotel rooms to shelter everyone.

"We're here at the ready to receive our neighbours," she told CBC News on Friday night. "We're looking forward to welcoming them, even though it's a stressful situa‐ tion."

Anyone who needs help with transportation should call 250-755-0933 and evac‐ uees should register on the Evacuee Registration and As‐ sistance website at www.ess.gov.bc.ca, the dis‐ trict said.

The B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS) says the fire, dubbed the Parker Lake fire, is "highly visible" from the town, where approximately 3,400 people live, according to the most re‐ cent census. It grew to four square kilometres by 6:30 p.m., overwhelming initial in‐ structions to muster at the recreation centre in Fort Nel‐ son. By 10:00 p.m. it was eight square kilometres.

The fire, about 12 kilome‐ tres northwest of town near Parker Lake, has closed High‐ way 97. Highway 77 north of Fort Nelson is closed due to another fire, according to Dri‐ ve B.C.

Rob Fraser, mayor of the NRRM, says the fire was started when high winds blew a tree over and it fell onto a power line, causing it to catch fire.

"And then by the time our firefighters were able to get down there, the wind had whipped this up into a fire that they weren't able to han‐ dle with the apparatus that we had," he told CBC News

Friday night.

Fire showing 'extreme' behaviour

BCWS says the fire is ex‐ hibiting "extreme fire behavi‐ our" fueled by winds and dry conditions.

It is being fought by ground crews and nine heli‐ copters that are bucketing water on the blaze, and air tanker support has been re‐ quested.

It says that in addition to wildfire service firefighters, members of the local fire de‐ partment and the RCMP are

involved.

B.C. Premier David Eby said on social media platform X that he was "thinking of people evacuated from Fort Nelson and Fort Nelson First Nation as wildfire activity grows close to their commu‐ nities."

"B.C. Wildfire Service is re‐ sponding and we will be working around the clock to support people."

Hospital being evacu‐ ated, phones impacted

The Northern Health Au‐ thority says it has closed Fort Nelson General Hospital and is evacuating all patients, in‐ cluding long-term care resi‐ dents, to alternate locations in Fort St. John and Dawson Creek.

The Northern Rockies Re‐ gional Municipality has also warned that landlines in the region have been affected, with 10-digit dialling unavail‐ able.

Northwestel, which provides phone service in Fort Nelson, said in a Face‐ book post that wildfires have damaged telecommunica‐ tions infrastructure, disrupt‐ ing to internet, phone and mobility services in parts of northern B.C., as well as parts of the Northwest Territories and Yukon.

"We are closely monitor‐ ing the situation and working to restore connectivity as soon as possible," they said.

Holdover fires from 2023 a threat

The fire comes the day af‐ ter two sleeper fires from 2023 reignited in the area, prompting an evacuation alert and the deployment of crews to the area.

The Nogah Creek and Pa‐ try Creek wildfires, both near Fort Nelson went under‐ ground for the winter. They became what's known as sleeper fires - or more men‐ acingly, zombie fires.

This spring, they both reignited after the snow melted and the ground thawed, explained Pedro Roldan-Delgado, an informa‐ tion officer for the B.C. Wild‐ fire Service (BCWS).

Wind this weekend may exceed 70 kilometres per hour, and could shift direc‐ tion rapidly, according to the BCWS. This creates the po‐ tential for extreme fire be‐ haviour at both sites.

Fraser said earlier that residents are apprehensive of the "big dry storm coming through" this weekend.

"These fires are hold-over fires and if the winds pick up in that dry country, we're looking at a big major spread outside the current fire con‐ trol area," Fraser said.

At the advice of the BCWS, the municipality issued an evacuation alert on May 9, warning residents who live near both fires that they need to be ready to evacuate on short notice. Fraser said the areas are mostly unin‐ habited, but include some oil and gas camps that may house around 30 people each.

The Nogah Creek fire is about 60 kilometres east of Fort Nelson, while the Patry Creek fire is about 40 kilome‐ tres from the junction of the Alaska Highway and Highway 77.

As of May 10, there are 119 active wildfires in the province, but only nine of those fires are categorized as out of control - including the Patry Creek and Nogah Creek fires.

Drought conditions

The evacuations and evac‐ uation alerts come as the province reports a snowpack of 66 per cent of normal - a sharp decrease from last year's 91 per cent. According to the province, it's creating a significantly elevated drought hazard.

The BCWS has reported that the conditions around both fire areas resemble those of late summer, even though it's only May.

Fraser said that some lo‐ cals are critical of the BCWS for not addressing the sleep‐ er fires earlier, including dur‐ ing the winter when the No‐ gah Creek fire was accessible by road.

"But they didn't hire their crews until late in March, and so they just didn't get out there in time to get some of these fires out," he said.

B.C.'s 2023 wildfire season is widely regarded as the worst on record after about 400 structures were de‐ stroyed. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes, and wildfire damage cost insurance com‐ panies more than $720 mil‐ lion.