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The Brunswick wildfire complex burning near Boston Bar, B.C., continues to rage out of control Friday.
A number of evacuation orders and alerts are in place for nearby communities.
B.C. Wildfire Service information officer Julia Caranci said there has been “very active fire behaviour” over the last several days on the complex, which is now made up of two wildfires on the west and east sides of the Fraser River.
As of Thursday evening, the Brunswick Creek wildfire on the west side was burning at 26.21 square kilometres (2,621 hectares) and the Ainslie Creek wildfire on the east side was burning at 154.97 sq. km. (15,497 ha).
“Where we’ve mainly seen that more substantial and explosive growth has been on the Ainslie Creek fire,” Caranci told CBC’s The Early Edition.
She said the size of the Ainslie Creek fire has been adjusted to a smaller number due to more accurate mapping.
The wildfire service expects to see slightly lower temperatures and higher relative humidity over the next two days, Caranci said, before difficult conditions come back.
“With the heat and dry returning … and the extremely steep and mountainous terrain that we’re dealing with, we can expect to see more vigorous fire behavior when things heat up again in the next few days,” she said.
Crews are working 24 hours a day using night-vision equipped helicopters, according to Caranci.
A bucketing helicopter flies above the Fraser River on Tuesday, July 7, working on the Brunswick complex wildfires near Boston Bar, B.C. (B.C. Wildfire Service)
A section of Highway 1 remains closed between Boston Bar Station Road and Ainslie Road North, according to DriveBC.
The B.C. Wildfire Service said in its provincial situation report Thursday it expects hot and dry conditions to continue in B.C.’s southern regions.
“Hot and dry weather conditions will further dry out available fuels, increasing the likelihood of wildfire ignition.”
Winds are also expected to increase, the service said.
The fires in the Brunswick complex are suspected to have been human-caused, a designation given to any fire not ignited by lightning.
There are currently 17 active wildfires burning in the province.