B.C. wildfire closes stretch of Highway 1

The Shetland Creek wildfire is seen adjacent to Highway 1 in this photo handed out by the BC Wildfire Service.

A stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway was shut down Sunday afternoon due to wildfire activity. 

The road is closed in both directions between Cache Creek and Spences Bridge, a nearly 40-kilometre stretch from Junction Highway 8 to Cornwall Road. A detour route is available via Highway 5.

The lightning-caused Shetland Creek wildfire, which sparked 7.5 kilometres north of Spences Bridge experienced “significant growth” overnight, according to a Sunday morning update to the BC Wildfire Service’s online dashboard. It is now estimated at 150 square kilometres.

In an update at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, the BCWS said “aggressive fire behaviour” on the eastern flank of the blaze around Venables Road prompted it to recommend closing the highway in the interest of public safety.

“Rank 4 fire behaviour, which is a highly vigorous surface fire with torching, or passive crown fire is moving in an eastern direction to Highway 1,” it wrote.

“Because of the concern of access and egress routes being compromised, personnel working in the Venables Valley area will be pulling back to safety zones.”

A number of evacuation orders and alerts remain in place and the fast-growing fire has destroyed an as-yet-unknown number of structures.

Hotter, drier conditions Sunday are expected to increase fire activity.

There are 120 firefighters assigned to the blaze, 10 helicopters battling it from the air and 20 pieces of heavy equipment have been deployed. Overnight, a crew of nearly two dozen worked to protect at-risk structures.

The next status update for the highway is scheduled for Monday at noon.