Evacuation order lifted for northern B.C. community threatened by wildfire

Cooler temperatures, high humidity and precipitation have led to reduced wildfire activity near Hudson's Hope, B.C., prompting the district to rescind its evacuation order.

The entire municipality of more than 800 people was ordered to evacuate last weekend as the Battleship Mountain wildfire encroached. As of 11 a.m. Saturday, residents were allowed to return to their homes, though the district warned that an evacuation order could be reinstated if conditions change.

As of Saturday, only an area in the southwest corner of Hudson's Hope remained on evacuation alert.

Information for residents returning to the community is available on the district's website. 

The Peace River Regional District has also rescinded its evacuation orders in the area. 

The Battleship Mountain wildfire was still considered "out of control" in an online update shared by the B.C. Wildfire Service Saturday morning.

The lightning-caused fire is burning on more than 30,000 hectares – or 300 square kilometres – of land west of Hudson's Hope.

Taylor Colman, fire information officer for the BCWS, told CTV News on Saturday that Battleship Mountain is the largest wildfire in the province, and will soon be the only "wildfire of note," once the Bearhole Lake fire loses that distinction on Sunday.

That blaze, which is located southeast of Tumbler Ridge, has also seen cooler weather and precipitation, which allowed the wildfire service to redistribute personnel from there to Battleship Mountain, Colman said.

The BCWS has 105 firefighters, 27 structure protection personnel, seven helicopters, 17 pieces of heavy equipment and five danger tree assessors and fallers responding to the blaze.

Colman couldn't predict how much longer the Battleship Mountain fire will continue to burn, saying hot and dry conditions are expected to return next week.

"It's hard to determine how long the fire will continue to burn," she said. "We did receive more (rain) than we were anticipating, so that was great for the short term to keep things cool so we can take action and suppress the wildfire where it's safe to do so."