Crews battle 10-hectare wildfire northeast of Terrace

BC Wildfire Service crews are responding to a 10-hectare wildfire about 75 kilometres northeast of Terrace.

Fire information officer Claire Allen says the fire was first spotted on Saturday, and is suspected to be human caused, though that remains under investigation.

The fire is burning along the Cedarvale-Kitwanga backroad on the north side of the Skeena River.

“It’s in quite a remote area, There’s certainly infrastructure in the area but no threat to any communities or structures at this time,” Allen said.

However, the fire is close enough to the region’s largest highway to make for a potential visual distraction.

“It is across from Highway 16, so separated by the Skeena River and certainly putting out quite a bit of smoke and noticeable to any folks travelling on that highway corridor there,” Allen said.

Allen said an initial attack crew and 10 firefighters on a unit crew were deployed on Saturday, and are being supported by helicopters with air tanker support on standby.

Across the province, there are 60 wildfires burning on Sunday, including one fire of note, the 545-hectare East Shuswap Lake fire near Kamloops.