'Harrowing' 24 hours as wildfire burns homes near Golden, B.C.

It’s been a harrowing 24 hours for people living near Golden, B.C., where officials say an out-of-control wildfire has destroyed homes along with other structures.

The Dogtooth FSR wildfire has exploded in size to more than 5,400 hectares, according to updated information from the BC Wildfire Service Thursday.

“The situation changed really quickly with the incoming cold front that we saw yesterday (Wednesday), which really whipped up the winds, changed the wind direction. As a result, wildfire crews, both contract and staff in the B.C. Wildfire Service, had to tactically retreat,” said Kyle Hale, the deputy director of Golden Emergency Operations Centre.

Twenty-eight properties in Parson, which is near Golden, that had been on evacuation alert were quickly put on evacuation order.

“BC Wildfire Service, RCMP and Golden Search and Rescue went door-to-door and evacuated a portion of the community,” Hale explained.

“The past 24 hours, for our community, certainly for me as the director, have been harrowing,” said Karen Cathcart, the director of Electoral Area A.

Officials said everyone is safe, as well as pets and livestock, but up to six homes, along with some structures have burned.

“It’s heart-wrenching,” Cathcart told CTV News.

“As a community, we will pull together, we will support those families and those individuals. We will come together like this community does, always,” she said.

Though some evacuation orders have just been rescinded, more than 1,000 properties remain on evacuation alert due to the blaze.

Some of the residents who were forced to flee are now staying in nearby Golden.

“We have a seniors centre here, which is a community hall, that has been taking people in and giving them shelter for the time being,” said Golden resident, Cruz Chiappa, who has been closely watching the massive blaze and hoping it doesn’t move any closer to his community.

“It’s alarming. It’s very nerve-wracking,” he said.

“I tend to take things as they come and last night was probably the most nervous we’ve been in town,” Chiappa said.

“Everyone I know has packed their go bags, packed their cars as much as possible,” he explained.

There are about 420 wildfires burning across the province, including the out-of-control Shetland Creek fire near Spences Bridge which has grown to more than 22,000 hectares.

“We saw some increased fire activity yesterday along the eastern flank so crews have been performing some small-scale hand ignitions to bring that fire’s edge down to Highway 1,” said Erika Berg, a provincial fire information officer.

Areas like Golden are seeing cooler temperatures, but Berg said the southeast area is still seeing hot, dry weather.

“With some thunderstorms in the area, as well, we are anticipating some gustiness ahead of, and in the wake of, those thunderstorms which could fan existing wildfires and increase fire behaviour,” she said.

Meanwhile, Chiappa said despite the fire burning nearby, many people in the Golden area are thinking about what’s happened in Jasper, Alberta where wildfires roared through town Wednesday evening, destroying many structures.

“(Our) hearts are breaking for the people in Jasper."