B.C. wildfires force closure of Highway 93

Smoky winds continue to blow into Calgary as wildfires burn west of the city in B.C. and Banff.

The wildfires have led to the closure of Highway 93 between Radium B.C. and Castle Junction, which wasn’t expected to open until at least 9 p.m. Wednesday.

The southbound section was first closed early Wednesday morning. B.C. authorities shut down both directions of a 33.7-kilometre stretch of the roadway around 9 a.m. due to proximity of the fires to the highway as well as limited visibility from smoke. DriveBC says traffic was being diverted to Highway 95 and Highway 1 via Golden.

The shutdown comes as officials contend with new wildfires in Kootenay and Banff national parks sparked by lightning late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.

A large thunderstorm on Tuesday led to two lightning-ignited wildfires in the Kootenay Valley, south of Kootenay Crossing, and two wildfires south of Vermilion Crossing in the Vermilion Valley.

The Kootenay Valley fires were caught at a small size and have since been contained, according to Jed Cochrane, the incident commander for Parks Canada.

An additional fire was confirmed in the Bow Valley on the slopes of Lipalian Mountain, east of the Hamlet of Lake Louise. That fire reached just 0.1 hectares in size and is not expected to grow, Cochrane said.

Both Vermilion Valley fires grew significantly due to high winds to an estimated 100 to 200 hectares as of Wednesday afternoon.

“We did have helicopters and crews on scene almost immediately after they started but the forest conditions are such that the fires were fast moving right from the early onset,” said Cochrane, adding the fires are close to Highway 93.

“It’s early days with this fire. We’re just sort of starting to get a sense on what we can do with these fires. We’ll keep the highway closed while the fire activity presents a risk to the public safety. As soon as it’s safe for traffic to travel through, we’ll work to open the highway.”

He said six to seven helicopters are battling the fires, along with five initial attac k crews made up of four people each. An incident management team of 15 people is dedicated to the Vermilion Valley fires.

“Those fires, with the current wind forecast, we’re expecting those to move north, however we are expecting growth upslope as well and probably to the south and toward the highway,” said Cochrane. “The current spread direction will keep it within Kootenay National Park. Other than some of the trails and areas inside Kootenay National Park, there’s no additional areas … that would be threatened by the fire at this time.”

He added that there is heavy smoke in the Vermilion Valley.

Some smoke has also drifted east to Alberta.

On Wednesday, Calgary had a rating of four on the Air Quality Health Index, considered a moderate risk, according to Alberta Environment and Parks.

Ratings of one to three constitute a low risk, while seven to 10 is considered high risk.

“It’s at the low end of the range,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Dan Kulak.

“Just enough that some people might be having some issues but in general it’s probably not a big thing for most of the population.”

Kulak said it’s fire season across much of the northern hemisphere right now.

“If you get any fires in the national parks on the Alberta side, west of Calgary, you’re going to get a lot of smoke drifting through. It’s so event-driven,” he said.