Several aircraft from the B.C. Wildfire Service were brought in Friday to help douse a difficult fire that broke out in a wooded area of Richmond overnight.

Three skimmers, a leading aircraft and a helicopter fought the flames from above as the blaze reached an area of about 10 hectares (0.1 square kilometres) in size. Crews will likely be at the scene for days, officials said.

In addition to provincial support from the air and on land, nearly three dozen members of the Canadian Armed Forces were called to help local firefighters.

Daryle Warkentin, acting battalion chief of the Richmond Fire Department, said the fire has posed a number of serious challenges since residents first reported seeing smoke in the middle of the night.

Crews initially struggled to even find the fire, and spent hours searching before they finally located the source of the smoke deep on a piece of Department of National Defence property beside the Richmond Nature Park.

"It's about 1,000 feet in from the road," Warkentin said. "It's not an area where we go every day. This is a brush area that's just uninhabited so there's no trails, there no way to get in there."

An excavator had to be brought in to clear a path to the fire and to create a fire break.

The flames are tearing through the wetland environment, adding to firefighters' challenges.

"Bogs are extremely vulnerable to fire. When it gets established, it goes underground and can burn for days or weeks," said Kris Bauder, Richmond Nature Park coordinator.

Crews need an extensive amount of water to soak the peat soils, the city said in a statement.

Though the fire was sending a huge plume of smoke over the city by mid-morning, overnight weather conditions kept the smoke low to the ground and difficult to see, Warkentin said.

Crews then brought a full truckload of hoses to the scene and ran them hundreds of metres through the brush to access the fire, but still had to call in provincial reinforcements once the flames started candling up trees.

About 12 hours after they located the source of the smoke, the fire was still growing.

The wildfire was a headache for some commuters as well, forcing crews to close a stretch of the busy Westminster Highway before rush hour. Those who commute home through the area are advised to find alternate routes if possible due to road closures.

"This is a technical fire and will likely be a multi-day event, with various road closures needed to provide space for equipment and hoses," Richmond Fire Chief Tim Wilkinson said in a statement.

On Friday, Westminster Highway was closed from No. 4 Road to No. 5 Road, and Shell Road was closed from Westminster Highway to Alderbridge Way. Other roads in the area were expected to be heavily congested due to the closures.

Fortunately, no homes or businesses are currently threatened, and firefighters said the flames are still a good distance away from Richmond Nature Park, a raised peat bog habitat on the other side of Shell Road.

The park's trails were closed as crews worked to gain control of the blaze, however, the Nature House and picnic and play area will remain open.

The winds shifted west Friday afternoon, which was beneficial for firefighting efforts, but at one point crews were worried it would jump Shell Road. Earlier in the day, they estimated the fire was growing at a rate of as much as 10 metres per minute.

Forrest Weisler, acting captain of fire investigations, said the cause of the fire hasn't been determined, but that some people might have been camping on the property Thursday night.

"I was told there was an encampment, that it's not the first time it's been seen here," Weisler said.

A spokesperson with the city said the area is not generally accessible to the public, "but we may have had some homeless people camping in the area. We don't know for certain."

Richmond RCMP are also on scene conducting an investigation into what happened, according to Weisler.

The blaze is considered an interface fire because one structure – a Canadian Forces base – is threatened by the flames.

Smoke from the fire wafted into Vancouver in the morning, and the plume of smoke could be seen as far away as New Westminster.

Those who live downwind of the fire will see smoke and ash, Wilkinson said in a statement released by the city.

"I urge you to keep windows closed, HVAC systems running, and those with health issues should stay indoors out of the smoke," he said.

Staff at the Vancouver International Airport advised those in the area not to be alarmed by the increased presence of aircraft, and said no flights out of YVR have been affected.

The fire prompted a reminder from officials that the current danger class rating in Richmond is "high." There is a serious risk of wildfires as forest fuels are dry.

"New fires may start easily, burn vigorously, and challenge fire suppression efforts," the province's Wildfire Management Branch says. "Extreme caution must be used in any forest activities. Open burning and industrial activities may be restricted."

Those in an area with a high fire risk are reminded not to discard smoking materials from their vehicles or in flower beds or bark mulch.

All lawn and farm equipment should be cooled before storing, and campfires and use of briquette barbecues are banned. All fires should be reported to 911.

With files from CTV Vancouver's Allison Hurst and Sarah MacDonald