An out-of-control wildfire burning about 10 kilometres south of Lytton, B.C., has tripled in size since its discovery on Monday.
The BC Wildfire Service now estimates the Cantilever Bar wildfire to be 460 hectares in size. The new estimate is in part due to more accurate mapping, the wildfire service said.
A trio of helicopters are bucketing the fire, while 45 firefighters and structure protection personnel have been deployed on the ground.
The Lytton, Siska and Skuppah First Nations and the Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) have issued evacuation alerts for some properties, all of them on the west side of the river, where the fire is also burning.
“I think the good news is it’s heading north towards a burn scar from about 2015, 2016, that should slow it,” TNRD area director Tricia Thorpe said.
“I know that CN and CPKC have their fire trains deployed, and they’re covering the structural protection, like looking after the bridges, so BC Wildfire doesn’t have to concentrate on that infrastructure.”
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On Tuesday, wildfire officials expressed “deep concern” after reports of ash from the fire raining down on the village.
The community is still recovering after being virtually razed to the ground by a wildfire in 2021.
The region typically sees the hottest temperatures in the province and sometimes in Canada. In the days immediately prior to the devastating 2021 fire, Lytton broke the record of the hottest temperature ever recorded in the country three days in a row.
Much of the British Columbia interior, including Lytton, is under an Environment Canada heat warning this week, with BC Wildfire Service officials acknowledging they will “be challenged” this week by the weather.
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