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Firefighting crews conduct ignition operations in response to the Fiftynine Creek wildfire northwest of Clinton, B.C. on Tuesday in this handout photo.HO/The Canadian Press
A regional official says structures on about 20 properties have been “impacted” by an out-of-control wildfire burning northwest of Clinton, B.C., in what may be the worst destruction of property in the province’s fire season to date.
Kevin Skrepnek, manager of community and emergency services at the Thompson-Nicola Regional District in the southern Interior, said the damage ranged from melted siding to all structures on some properties being completely burned down.
Skrepnek said the losses occurred mostly on properties south of Big Bar Lake, where the Fiftynine Creek fire has been burning since last Friday.
He told a community wildfire briefing that staff identified the properties during a rapid damage assessment on Saturday and he believed all of the affected owners had been informed.
“Once this fire has evolved a bit and the safety of the situation on the ground starts to change, we will start to look at the potential for folks getting in to take a look at their properties firsthand,” he said.
The fire that spans more than 108 square kilometres has forced the evacuation of the area around Big Bar Lake, while the entire village of Clinton with a population of several hundred was placed on evacuation alert late Wednesday.
It’s the third B.C. community that is at risk from the more than 80 wildfires burning across the province.
The entire city of Kimberley in southeast B.C. with a population of more than 8,000 also remained under evacuation alert due to a nearby complex of fires, while authorities urged any holdout residents in Boston Bar to escape as nearby fires surrounded the Fraser Canyon community.
The BC Wildfire Service said crews fighting the Big Bar Complex fires, which include the French Bar Creek and Pear Lake wildfires, were being challenged by hot and dry conditions, and further growth and an increase in fire activity were expected on Thursday.
Mikhail Elsay, an information officer with the service, said crews were focused on trying to hold the Fiftynine Creek fire to just south of Big Bar Road.
“Our crew is currently engaged in a bit of a firefight there to try to keep the fire from travelling any further north,” he told the briefing.
The fire had burned up to control lines on the fire’s northern flank, Elsay added.
The wildfire service said conditions were particularly challenging near the fire’s southeast corner.
Crews were continuing to protect properties northwest of Big Bar Lake and along the Big Bar Road corridor, and helicopters were helping slow the spread of the fire.
Around 65 firefighters, 13 helicopters, 57 heavy equipment vehicles and 77 structure protection resources were fighting the blazes.
Maria Kosovic, who operates The Stagecoach Cafe in Clinton with her son Nicholas, has been feeding the fire crews since a dozen firefighters dropped in for dinner on Saturday night.
Maria, her son and their three teenage employees have been waking at 3 a.m. to serve breakfast at 5 a.m., or making dinners at 10 p.m. for weary crews.
“They are my children,” Kosovic said of the firefighters, who call her “Mama Maria,” and are mostly under the age of 30.
“They are helping us. They are trying to keep our homes safe. How could you not help by cooking for them?”
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They planned dozens of meals, from the Mexican fare the café is known for to lasagnas, chicken pot pies and salads. Then people started bringing them free ingredients from other cities, since Clinton isn’t large enough for a supermarket.
“We would just cook. If we had extras we’d just flag down a crew and they’d come in, grab their food. Pay for it, don’t pay for it, doesn’t matter,” Nicholas Kosovic said.
“We got boxes upon boxes of chips and cookies and chocolate that we’d just add on. Drinks, energy drinks, anything to keep them fuelled up.”
The restaurant’s job is over for now – the wildfire service is bringing its camp cooks – but that didn’t stop the Kosovics from setting up free coffee and snacks for firefighters outside the café on Thursday morning.
Mayor Roland Stanke said in an interview on Thursday that the fire was getting dangerously close to Clinton’s watershed, threatening a supply that is already under major restrictions.
“If it gets into the watershed, well, then we’re in major trouble,” Stanke said.
He said ashes were falling everywhere in the community, and the smoke made it hard to breathe and talk.
Stanke said the town was dealing with traffic from tourists, as Highway 97 bisects the community, as well as fire crews who are filling up hotels.
The destruction northwest of Clinton may be the most serious in B.C. so far this season.
Patricia Ross, board chair for the Fraser Valley Regional District, said she expected more structural damage due to the fires burning near Boston Bar.
Seven buildings were reported destroyed last week.
“That is the only area we have been able to get in and check. The rest of them are just too dangerous. So, there is probably more damage. We just can’t get in there yet,” she said on Thursday.
Premier David Eby said anyone still in Boston Bar should be leaving after it was ordered evacuated.
“It’s not safe for you to stay,” he told reporters during a virtual news conference from Charlottetown, P.E.I.
“The evacuation notice is there for a very serious reason,” he said.
There were overnight evacuation orders from the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District on Thursday and an evacuation alert for an area around Texas Creek, south of Lillooet.
As residents in Clinton pack up, preparing to flee if necessary, Stanke said the rumour mill is making it harder for people to get information about the fire.
“There’s a lot of angst, a lot of uncertainty. They’re making it more difficult by surfing Facebook and other things like that where misinformation is shared,” he said.
Meanwhile, Environment Canada says temperatures in Lytton hit 41.2 degrees on Wednesday, breaking a daily heat record set in 2006.
Heat warnings that have blanketed the southern half of the province this week have receded, ending in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, the Sunshine Coast, portions of Vancouver Island and the North Coast.
But more than 20 heat warnings remain in place, including in the Fraser Canyon, the Okanagan, Kootenay, Shuswap and Cariboo areas.
The high temperatures also caused a sharp spike in power use, with BC Hydro reporting that the province set new electricity consumption records for the summertime for two consecutive days.
The utility says power usage reached 8,870 megawatts between 5 and 6 p.m. on Wednesday, breaking the 8,715 megawatts mark set on Tuesday that broke the previous summertime record set last August.
On Tuesday, temperatures in Lytton hit 40.5 degrees, although this week’s heat falls far short of the 49.6 degrees recorded in the village on June 29, 2021, a day before it was largely destroyed by a wildfire.
The weather forecast agency says Lytton is among 12 B.C. communities that broke daily heat records on Wednesday, with Cache Creek and Osoyoos both pushing past 39 degrees while Nanaimo, Abbotsford, West Vancouver and Sechelt also broke previous marks.
On Vancouver Island, the community of Duncan recorded a high of 34.6 degrees, edging past the previous record set almost a century ago in 1928.