Wildfire disrupts traffic along Highway 1 between Chilliwack and Hope

Local and provincial crews are responding to a small wildfire in B.C.'s Fraser Valley that disrupted traffic along Highway 1 for several hours Monday.

The flames were discovered between Chilliwack and Hope before 8:30 a.m., prompting the closure of the right lane of the Trans-Canada Highway between Exit 146 and Exit 161 – an approximately five-kilometre stretch of the busy route.

"The fire is super visible from the highway," said Jean Strong of the B.C. Wildfire Service. "There have been some impacts to traffic in the area – that may change on and off as the response continues."

Strong said the incident is within the jurisdiction of the Popkum Fire Department, but that BCWS personnel are assisting with the response. As of early Monday afternoon, the province had dispatched two initial attack crews and helicopter support to the site.

The suspected cause of the wildfire is human activity, either accidental or intentional. Strong said only around 13 per cent of the fires sparked across the province this season have been human-caused, while the vast majority – around 80 per cent – have been caused by lightning.

With more hot and dry weather in the forecast, Strong urged B.C. residents and visitors to be "very cautious when they're recreating in the backcountry" or doing any activities that could potentially ignite another wildfire.

Traffic impacts

DriveBC warned motorists to expect significant delays between Chilliwack and Hope on Monday, with no timeline for fully reopening Highway 1 available by the early afternoon.

Traffic camera images captured vehicles already backed up near the Herrling Island overpass before 9 a.m., with smoke clouding the air. 

A B.C. highway camera image shows vehicles lined up between Chilliwack and Hope on July 15, 2024. (DriveBC)

The one-hectare wildfire is classified as "being held" on the BCWS website, meaning crews expect it to "remain within the current perimeter, control line or boundary."

An aerial picture shared by the BCWS shows the flames burning underneath power lines, though it's unclear whether the incident has caused outages for residents of the rural area, located north of Bridal Falls.

The BC Hydro website listed a small outage affecting eight customers near that stretch of Highway 1 Monday.