Work continues on wildfires amid evacuations near B.C.'s Slocan Lake

The smoke is so thick in New Denver, B.C., that Nicole Blacksioux can no longer see the flames from her deck that were candling up the trees in the wildfire across the lake.

With two fires burning across Slocan Lake from them and other fires burning to the south of them, Blacksioux said she's hopeful her family won't have leave their home.

"We built this place, and just knowing that if we have to leave, we have to leave everything behind … it's very heartbreaking," she said.

The Regional District of Central Kootenay put the Village of New Denver and other nearby properties on evacuation alert last week. Dozens of fires have been sparked in the area — the southeast corner of B.C.— from a series of lightning storms that swept through over the last few weeks.

Blacksioux said in an interview Monday that the fire they have been watching across the lake, which began nearly two weeks ago, has traumatized her five-year-old daughter.

"She was scared and she thought that the fire could jump over the lake and hit home, and since that very night she's been having nightmares because of the fires," she said.

"We could feel the heat from it. Big ash and embers were falling down on us," she added.

Jason Lawler, an incident commander who heads an Australian management team brought in to help battle the fires around Slocan Lake, said the fires have been hard to fight for several reasons.

"One of the challenges we've had is the significantly difficult terrain, (and) really dry fuel, but also we've had little to no rain over the past couple of weeks," he said in a video shared by the BC Wildfire service.

Lawler said what occurs in the morning can be very different than in the afternoons on some days. Layers of smoke are also hindering the use of aircraft to help fight the fires.

He said weather conditions "aren't great at the moment," and he's not expecting improvement in the coming days.

"We've also got several orders and alerts in place around those communities and, first and foremost, that's to protect the emergency responders and the community while we work through strategies and options to fight these wildfires," he said. "So, over the next few days, it's critical to us to keep a sharp eye on the weather conditions."

The forecast for nearby Nelson shows a 60 per cent chance of showers overnight Monday, with potential for more rain on Tuesday, but the rest of the week will be hot and sunny.

The Village of Slocan, about 30 kilometres south of New Denver, was ordered evacuated Sunday along with hundreds of surrounding properties as multiple fires burn nearby.

Mayor Jessica Lunn said the evacuation has been surreal but she is comforted by the amount of support her community of about 370 residents is receiving.

The order covers all 208 properties in the village and 309 in the surrounding area.

"Everyone has been really nervous, (there's) a lot of anxiety or angst, and I've been so heartened to see the care in community, the offers from the wider community, to support our fellow Slocanites and those affected by these fires," Lunn said.

"There's been a lot of neighbours helping neighbours. So, folks were quite prepared for the actual evacuation order."

The Slocan Lake fires are among about 360 wildfires active throughout the province. About half of those fires are classified as burning out of control.

The BC Wildfire Service says 284 fires have been declared out in the last week and rains with cooler temperatures have reduced fire behaviour on some major blazes.

Still, there are six wildfires of note, meaning they're either highly visible or pose a threat to public safety or infrastructure. Four are in the southeast region of the province.

Among them is the roughly six-square-kilometre Aylwin Creek fire burning next to Highway 6 on the east side of Slocan Lake, opposite Valhalla Provincial Park.

On the other side of the highway, the Komonko Creek blaze is also a fire of note and has burned across nearly 23 square kilometres of forest.

The 11-square-kilometre Mulvey Creek fire is burning on a mountainside west of Slocan Village.

About 28 kilometres north of Slocan, an evacuation order remains in effect for the community of Silverton due to the same complex of fires.

B.C.'s driver information service, DriveBC, says Highway 6 remains closed for nearly 40 kilometres from south of Slocan to one kilometre beyond New Denver to the north.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2024