The wildfire burning in Hope, B.C., has more than quadrupled in size, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service.
Officials now estimate the fire to be at 271 hectares as of Saturday night, up from 65 earlier in the day.
The Flood Falls Trail wildfire is burning out of control on a very steep section of terrain.
There is now a BC Wildfire Service incident management team monitoring the fire with 43 firefighters and seven helicopters fighting the blaze.
At this time, no structures or infrastructure are in immediate risk, officials said.
An evacuation alert has been expanded west to the nearby community of Laidlaw, in addition to an earlier alert in place for the District of Hope and nearby areas, issued by the Fraser Valley Regional District Friday.
Existing alerts are in place for the Floods and Hunter Creek areas.
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Those in the impacted area are being asked to prepare for a possible evacuation by locating all family members and people who live in the home, designate a place to meet, and gather essential items such as medication, valuable papers and fuel.
Residents with livestock are being asked to make a plan to move them to safety.
People in the alert zone can also prepare their homes by keeping firewood away from the home, cleaning corners of roofs where debris and embers can collect, cutting grass to less than 10 cm, removing flammable and explosive items away from the home and cleaning any leaves from under patios and balconies.
Wildfire officials are expecting increased fire activity throughout the weekend.
“Due to hot, dry conditions and gusty winds, increased fire behavior was visible (Saturday),” B.C. Wildfire officials said.
“Outflow will persist (Saturday), with dry easterly winds and warm temperatures. We are expecting to see increasing smoke persisting into the weekend with light outflow winds and temperatures will remain warm and dry.”
The BC Wildfire Service has liaised with the Hope Fire Department, Fraser Valley Regional District, the District of Hope and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to prepare for the possibility of the Flood Falls Trail Wildfire impacting Highway 1, and local communities.
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