B.C. wildfire status Sunday: 4,000-hectare fire flares up near B.C.-Alberta border

Crews may be making progress on B.C.’s wildfires, but blazes are still flaring up around the province, a fire information officer said Sunday.

A 4,126-hectare wildfire is burning in Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park near B.C.’s border with Alberta.

The blaze, which is known as the Verdant Creek fire, was discovered on July 15, but it was officially classified as a “Wildfire of Note” on Sunday.

All inbound traffic to the park has been closed in an effort to preserve public safety, and the closure will remain “until further notice,” the BC Wildfire Service said.

Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park is only accessible via hiking trails, “which would make an evacuation of the area difficult if it were needed,” the service added.

“This proactive measure will enable a safe and orderly exit of the public from the area.”

Coverage of B.C. wildfires on Globalnews.ca:

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The fire is believed to have been caused by lightning.

A total of 152 fires are now burning across the province, fire information officer Navi Saini said on a Sunday conference call.

Nine new fires started on Saturday; five of them were sparked by lightning, one of them was human-caused and three are still being investigated for their causes.

READ MORE: B.C. wildfiers map 2017: Current location of wildfires around the province

In total, there have been 739 fires in this wildfire season, and 369,674 hectares have burned to date.

This is what the total area burned looks like when superimposed over a map of the Lower Mainland:

View image in full screen

Fire suppression efforts have so far cost $125.8 million, with 4,082 firefighters dispatched to tackle the flames.

The total cost of the 2015 fire season was estimated at $272 million in August of that year.

There’s a cold front coming in and scattered showers expected, but there’s also a chance of lightning in the province’s southeast.

There have been 30,256 local evacuees, but 47,412 have been registered with the Red Cross.

READ MORE: Williams Lake mayor says city gearing up for possible homecoming

Williams Lake Mayor Walt Cobb is optimistic that people could be allowed back into the city soon.

But the BC Wildfire Service can’t make any prediction on when that could happen.

A big wind event is expected in the city Sunday, but it may also die down on Monday.

It was, however, raining on Sunday.

In other news, B.C. residents are once again allowed to use a number of lakes from which planes were drawing water to put out the fires.

They are Watson Lake, Lac La Hache, Williams Lake and Horse Lake.

Boaters were previously warned about obstructing plane access on those water bodies.