The wildfire situation is starting to escalate in B.C. and one driver saw that first-hand near Lillooet.
Cory Sterritt was driving back from work Tuesday when the McKay Creek fire was raging.
Sterritt’s truck became surrounded by flames and thick smoke and at many points in his journey, he couldn’t see what was in front of him.
The McKay Creek fire is now estimated at 5,000 hectares and is currently classified as out of control.
Smoke is visible from Lillooet and nearby areas.
An evacuation order has been issued for properties on the West Pavilion Road from the 14-kilometre mark to the 41-kilometre mark in Electoral Area “B”.
The B.C. Wildfire Service estimates this wildfire is human-caused.
The unprecedented heat wave in B.C. has pushed the risk of wildfire to dangerous levels, according to a University of British Columbia professor.
Lori Daniels, a professor with UBC’s department of forest and conservation sciences, says B.C.’s current fire danger map looks similar to maps from August 2017 and August 2018, two of the worst wildfire seasons on record.
Aside from the McKay fire, crews are trying to get the upper hand on the Sparks Lake wildfire burning 15 kilometres north of Kamloops.
The George Road wildfire is 350 hectares in size and is burning out of control seven kilometres south of Lytton, the small B.C. community that has set all-time Canadian heat records three days in a row.
In northeastern B.C., a lightning-caused fire has closed Highway 97 in both directions 114 kilometres south of Fort Nelson. Conditions were so intense crews have been forced to return to the Kamloops area.
—With files from Jon Azpiri