Strong winds across B.C. on Labour Day fan wildfires and cut power to thousands

A special weather statement was issued for most of B.C.’s south coast Monday with winds expected to gust between 40 and 70 km/h by the evening.

A special weather statement issued for Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Okanagan Valley, Fraser Canyon, the Southern Gulf Islands and east Vancouver Island was recinded before 7 p.m. Monday.

However, areas like Port Moody did receive a late night blast of wind that knocked out power to at least 1,700 customers, at one point.

The outage was due to wind that felled branches on a power line at Ioco Road and Alderside Road in Port Moody late Monday night, sparking a small fire amid some brush.

Gusty northeasterly winds, meanwhile, continued Monday evening for southern Vancouver Island.

And, a strong ridge of high pressure forecasted for the BC interior generated gusty northeasterly winds of up to 50-70 km/h.

Those winds were expected to pick up due to rising pressures in the B.C. interior.

2:45 B.C. morning weather forecast: Sept. 7

The weather statement had prompted the Regional District of East Kootenay to expand the evacuation alert on the Doctor Creek wildfire to include an area of mostly Crown land on the south side of the fire.

This area does not include any homes but does include the Buhl Creek recreation site, Doctor Creek cabin recreation site and the Skookumchuck Forest Service Road.

0:32 Strong wind in the Okanagan during wildfire season

This Alert is in addition to the existing Evacuation Order for five properties and Evacuation Alert for five properties in the Findlay Creek area, which both remain in effect.

“Although there are no residential properties in this area and much of the access is closed due to the Area Restriction, we want to ensure recreationalists are aware of the potential for fire growth and are taking steps to be adequately prepared,” information officer Loree Duczek said in a release.