Wildfires burning around B.C. have prompted more evacuation orders and alerts, along with a local state of emergency.
The Fraser Valley Regional District declared a local state of emergency and an evacuation order for the Coquihalla Lakes Lodge and the Coquihalla Summit Snowmobile Club due to the Mine Creek wildfire.
It had already triggered an evacuation order and other alerts from the Thompson-Nicola Regional District for properties along the highway.
That wildfire remains mapped at 1,900 hectares and is still considered out of control.
The fire also forced the closure of the Coquihalla Highway between Hope and Merritt on Wednesday. The highway reopened around 12:15 p.m. on Friday.
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However, for a while, there was only one route between the Lower Mainland and the Southern Interior due to a serious crash that closed Highway 1 on Friday.
The massive Beef Trail Creek wildfire, burning near Anahim Lake, has also forced evacuation orders from the Cariboo Regional District and the Ulkatcho First Nation.
That fire is mapped at 9,325.8 hectares.
The Dusty Lake fire, burning east of Dusty Lake in the Cariboo region, is mapped at 4,494.1 hectares and forced three evacuation orders to be issued by the Cariboo Regional District and the Ulkatcho First Nation.
Evacuees have been told to leave immediately and head east along Highway 20 to Williams Lake, where they can register and get help at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex.
Parts of B.C. remain under heat warnings and special air-quality statements, with Environment Canada warning that “numerous regions” are likely to be impacted by smoke over the next day or two.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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