Crews continue to fight out of control wildfire near Sooke

The Tugwell Creek wildfire is seen from above.

Fire crews have been hard at work near Shirley, fighting a wildfire that began on Tuesday.

“I smelt a bit of smoke this morning but it seems to have gone now,” said Bob Liptrot, owner of Tugwell Creek Honey Farm and Meadery.

The cause of the smoke that Liptrot woke up to on Wednesday was a 1.4 hectare wildfire, currently considered to be burning out-of-control three kilometres north of Otter Point.

“We responded with an initial attack crew and a helicopter,” said Gordon Robinson, an information officer with the Coastal Fire Centre.

“Neighbours heard some water bombers yesterday, we were not home,” said Liptrot.

Crews quickly called in an air tanker, taking water from nearby Gordon Bay.

“Which put a nice box or retardant around it while our additions crew arrived,” said Robinson.

The fire has now been knocked down to a smouldering surface fire. Coastal Fire won’t change its status from out of control until it is fully extinguished.

“As of this morning there are approximately 530 people under an evacuation order and over 9,500 people under an evacuation alert in B.C.,” said Bowinn Ma, British Columbia’s Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness.

A total of 361 wildfires are currently burning across the province, and 13 of those wildfires are of note. None of the fires of note are on Vancouver Island.

“July was the hottest month ever recorded on earth,” said Ma. ”We are experiencing the impacts of climate change right now.”

The Coastal Fire Centre agrees with the Ma, saying Vancouver Island has been in drought conditions since last year.

“We’re very susceptible to new fire starts,” said Gordon.

The Coastal Fire Centre is asking people to be extremely careful when in the backcountry and to obey the fire ban.

The Tugwell Creek fire is suspected to be human-caused.

“You know, it’s pretty dry and hot around here,” said Liptrot.

Thankfully, no structures or lives are considered to be threatened at this time. It’s an assurance that Liptrot credits to the firefighters and their quick response.

“You’ve got to jump on it really fast,” said Liptrot. “We have good crews, dedicated crews, working hard to fight fires around here.”