Heavy rain falls on B.C. wildfires, evacuation orders lifted in northeast
Heavy rain that fell on B.C.'s most concerning fires Monday meant upwards of 450 properties were taken off evacuation orders in the northeast part of the province.
As of Monday evening, there were nearly 90 wildfires burning across the province with the majority in the Peace region in the northeast, in‐ cluding three wildfires of note — Donnie Creek, Stoddart Creek and Red Creek.
The Stoddart Creek and Red Creek blazes, northwest of Fort St. John, were down‐ graded in status to "being held" — which means they are not expected to spread past containment lines, after weeks of burning out of con‐ trol.
It led to the Peace River Regional District rescinding evacuation orders for 450 properties close to the fires, with those regions now placed on evacuation alert in‐ stead.
"People can go home safe‐ ly. We're recommending that most people travel during the daylight hours," said Mike Watkins, director of the dis‐ trict's emergency operations centre, in a Monday news conference. "There's no rush to go home."
Evacuees from the region had to go as far away as Prince George and Chetwynd, hundreds of kilo‐ metres away, as the City of Fort St. John was itself on evacuation alert for a few days.
Watkins says returning evacuees may have to watch for flash flooding as heavy rain hits the region, which is under a rainfall warning.
B.C. Wildfire Service infor‐ mation officer Forrest Tower said that up to 40 millimetres of rain fell on the Stoddart Creek fire on Monday, which aided firefighters significantly.
"This amount of rain will have a quite high drastic short-term impact on these fires. It might have a long-last‐ ing impact on the smaller wildfires," he told the news conference.
Cooler temperatures and a wind shift meant that fire‐ fighters were able to conduct a planned ignition opera‐ tion Saturday to inhibit the spread of the Stoddart Creek blaze. Tower says smoke may still be visible in the area as temperatures slightly re‐ bound in the middle of the week.
The Donnie Creek fire re‐ mains burning out of control over nearly 1,350 square kilo‐ metres southeast of Fort Nel‐ son in a sparsely populated area.
However, fire information officer Shaelee Stearns said there was a "very large amount of precipitation" that fell on the fire Monday, and the fire service would contin‐ ue to keep an eye on any fu‐ ture growth.
Lightning concern However, there is also the risk that thunderstorms in B.C.'s Interior could lead to more fires.
Severe thunderstorm watches were issued Sunday for several regions including the Boundary region and the Kootenays near the Alberta border, where an out-of-con‐ trol wildfire in Kootenay Na‐ tional Park grew in estimated size to almost two square kilometres.
Three properties in B.C.'s Cariboo region were also or‐ dered evacuated Sunday as the result of the Tzenzaicut fire, which officials say was likely sparked by lightning or other natural causes.
Environment Canada has forecast 50 to 100 millime‐ tres of precipitation Monday through Tuesday for areas hardest hit by the fires in the Peace River region.
Meteorologist Gregg Wal‐ ters said on Monday that the rain was expected to ease by early Wednesday.
"There's a low centred over the central part of Alber‐ ta spinning up moisture and pushing it toward northeast B.C.," he said.
Flood watches
While the rain may be good news in the fight against wildfires it could also lead to catastrophic flooding, B.C.'s River Forecast Centre has warned.
Flood watches were issued Sunday for the Boundary, Kootenays and Columbia re‐ gions in the southeast, the Shuswap, Thompson, Bona‐ parte and Okanagan regions in the southern Interior and for the upper and middle Fraser River around Prince George and Quesnel.
Of particular concern is a flood watch in place for rivers and tributaries in the Peace region where the forecast centre says conditions are similar to those seen in 2016 — when flooding caused catastrophic damage to roads and highways, forcing evacua‐ tions and cutting off several communities.