Endako, B.C., under wildfire threat as evacuation alerts issued

Shifting winds triggered an evacuation alert for the tiny community of Endako in central British Columbia over the weekend, as fears of a long wildfire season in the province start to materialize.

Residents of the 50 or so properties that make up Endako, about 1,000 kilometres northof Vancouver, have been told to prepare to leave because of an out-of-control blaze that the B.C. Wildfire Service said was less than a kilometre west of the communityon Sunday.

Mark Parker, chair of the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako, said the evacuation alert was issued Sunday after 60 km/h winds began pushing the flames toward the community that sits on the north side of Highway 16.

"That fire started on Saturday afternoon, and at that time, the wind was blowing away from the community of Endako,'' he said Monday in an interview.

"By Sunday though, the wind had completely shifted and was blowing back toward the community.''

The B.C. Wildfire Service said in an online post on Sunday that firefighters were working on the east and west flanks of the fire while community wildfire response worked along the south flank. Heavy equipment and two helicopters were providing support to fight the fire, which the wildfire service said measured about 0.25 square kilometres.

"A structure protection specialist is en route and will assess the possible need for structure protection upon arrival,'' the post said.

2 alerts issued in central B.C.

The Endako alert is one of two issued for central B.C. over the weekend, with both believed to have been caused by human activity, a broad category in B.C. that refers to all wildfires sparked by anything other than lightning.

The Cariboo Regional District issued an alert on Sunday night covering six parcels of land over 32 square kilometres, saying a fire in the Burgess Creek area is dangerous and residents should prepare to leave at short notice.

The B.C. Wildfire Service says the Burgess Creek fire, about 600 kilometres north of Vancouver, was discovered on Saturday and had grown to 16 square kilometres in size by Sunday.

Susanne Langan first noticed the Burgess Creek wildfire as a distant, thin column of smoke, seenfrom the mine where she works in British Columbia's Cariboo region.

But as winds picked up that night, the flames became more aggressive.

"I could see lots of trees going up like Roman candles. There was certainly lots of smoke rising from it," said Langan, who works as an equipment operator at Mount Polley Mine, about 50 kilometres north of Williams Lake.

Langan, who says she has lived "off the grid" in the area for 39 years, is among a handful of Cariboo residents put under evacuation alert.

Langan, who lives on a remote property in the Cariboo alert zone, says hernearest permanent neighbour is 15 kilometres away. Her property is powered by a generator.

"There was a lot of smoke and you couldn't see where the fire actually was. The wind changed directions and, at times, the smoke would drift here over the ranch and you could definitely smell it," said Langan, whose ranch is at the north end of Ben Lake.

Cariboo Regional District had called her to alert her about the fire, which she said was nice, but she said she had no plans to leave immediately and hadn't packed.

Seeing wildfires up close isn't new to Langan, who worked with neighbours to put out wildfires in 2017.

"One of the local contractors brought over a dozer and helped with that. At that time, when they later on issued an evacuation order, nobody left because we knew that the only ones who were gonna save our homes were us," said Langan.

Information posted Monday by the B.C. Wildfire Service said nine wildfires had started in the province in the previous 24 hours.

Officials have worried this year's wildfire season could be a challenging one, with much of the province continuing to experience significant drought and snowpack levels at record lows.

Lack of snowpack

Parker said his region, like much of the province, has been concerned about the lack of snowpack.

"It's not good to start with, with the snow. And then we just have had ...limited amounts of precipitation in the last month,'' he said.

"So, that dry grass season, it's even drier than it normally would be. It's always a threat, and we've always dealt with some grass fires during the early spring season, but this year they seem to be a lot more volatile, just from the dry conditions.''

Last year's B.C. wildfire season saw more than 28,400 square kilometres of forest and land burned, hundreds of homes destroyed and tens of thousands of people forced to evacuate. It was part of Canada's most destructive wildfire season on record.

WATCH | Why B.C.'s 2024 fire season may not be as destructive as 2023:

B.C.'s 2024 wildfire season 'unlikely' to be as destructive as last year's: climate specialist

4 months ago

Duration 1:43

Darius Mahdavi, a climate and science specialist with CBC News, says while this year's wildfire outlook is not good, it is 'unlikely' to be as bad as 2023. He tells BC Today host Michelle Eliot about the factors that led to an 'extraordinary' 2023, and the state of affairs as this year's wildfire season gets underway.