'Immediate danger to life safety': Evacuation orders in place near 3 more B.C. wildfires

VANCOUVER -

Evacuation orders have been issued for areas near the Brenda Creek, Grizzly Lake and Young Lake wildfires.

Near Brenda Creek, the order was issued Thursday morning for 41 properties located in the community of Headwaters, in the Electoral Area "H."

Properties on the following roads have been listed by the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen: Peachland Forest Service Road, Lyric Lane, Blue Gate Lane, Twilight Lane, Campbell Lane, Dam Lane, Whiskey Jack Lane, Lupine Lane and Headwaters Lane.

A list with specific addresses is available on the RDOS website. 

The district said the order was put in place due to "immediate danger to life safety."

In Bulkley-Nechako, about 100 properties are under an evacuation order issued Wednesday night. The properties are about 25 kilometres south of Vanderhoof.

The BC Wildfire Service said the order is in effect for an area southeast of the 900 and 800 roads, including Naltesby Lake and Little Bobtail Lake.

A list of specific properties was not provided in the alert from the regional district, which links to an evacuation alert for the areas listed by BCWS, and southeast of the Bobtail Connector and Bobtail Forest Service Road. The advisory did, however, include a map, which can be viewed on the district's website.

According to the BCWS, the Grizzly Lake wildfire was first discovered on Saturday and has since grown to 2,800 hectares (28 square kilometres). It is considered out of control.

The Brenda Creek wildfire was just discovered Wednesday, so it had not yet been classified by Thursday morning, but the estimated size at that point was 80 hectares (0.8 square kilometres).

On Thursday afternoon, the BC Wildfire Service said three fires on Young Lake, about 15 kilometres north of Kamloops Lake, had merged, spreading across a combined area of 680 hectares.

The fire is considered out of control, and an evacuation alert already issued in the area was partially upgraded to an order.

The order is in place for electoral areas E (Bonaparte Plateau), J (Copper Desert Country), and O (Lower North Thompson).

The latest update indicated there have been 1,074 wildfires reported so far in 2021. As of Thursday afternoon, 306 were currently burning in B.C.