Vancouver Island wildfire expected to continue for 'several days' as highway remains closed
Wildfire officials are sending an additional 20 firefighters to help battle an out-of-control blaze that has burned more than two square kilometres of forest and cut off a major highway on Vancouver Island.
The additional crews will join more than 60 firefighting personnel already on the ground at the Cameron Bluffs wildfire east of Port Alberni.
Several air tankers, firefighting helicopters and other pieces of heavy equipment continue to battle the blaze, which has grown to 208 hectares since it was first reported Sunday.
Light rain proved favourable for fire crews on Friday morning, however efforts to get the fire under control are far from over.
"We'll still be working this fire for the next several days," Bryce Moreira, incident commander for the Cameron Bluffs fire, told reporters Friday.
He said crews have been working to safeguard the nearby ancient forest of Cathedral Grove on the fire's western flank while aerial bombers attack the eastern flank as weather conditions permit.
Much of the fire's growth over the past few days has been in the rugged, mountainous terrain on the fire's southern edge, Moreira added.
WILDFIRE DETOUR CLOSED
The wildfire, which is believed to be human-caused, forced the province to close Highway 4 on Wednesday, cutting off the only highway connecting the communities of Port Alberni, Tofino and Ucluelet with the rest of B.C.
A four-hour detour route around the fire has been established, however the detour was scheduled to close for most of the day Friday while workers attempted to retrieve a vehicle that had rolled off the treacherous gravel road and into Francis Lake.
"There are no dangers to life, structures or critical infrastructure with the Cameron Bluffs fire at this time," Kimberly Kelly, a fire information officer with the B.C. Wildfire Service, said.
"This fire is adequately resourced and is a high priority provincially" due to the highway closure and the fire's proximity to Cathedral Grove, she added.
The provincial wildfire service says the blaze is among 82 active wildfires in the province, with 29 wildfires considered out of control.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
Man or machine? Toronto company finds a way to determine how real audio clips are
The Toronto-based research arm of life sciences technology firm Klick Health has found a way to analyze voices in a manner that’s so granular, it can tell whether it's a person or an artificial intelligence-powered machine.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
Family of toddler found dead at small-town Ont. daycare no closer to answers after year of investigation
A year has passed since two-year-old Vienna Irwin was found on the property of a home-based daycare in small-town Ontario, but her family says they are no closer to answers of what happened that day.
More seniors are using homeless shelters. Here's why, according to experts
One of the country’s homeless shelters has seen an uptick in the number of people through its doors, including more older adults over 50.
The death toll in Kharkiv attack rises to 14 as Zelenskyy warns of Russian troop movements
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Sunday that Russia is preparing to intensify its offensive along Ukraine's northern border, as the death toll rose to 14 in an aerial bomb attack on a large construction supplies store in the city of Kharkiv.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels freed over 100 war prisoners, the Red Cross says
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on Sunday released more than 100 war prisoners linked to the country’s long-running conflict, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
No sign Canada has a plan to reach NATO defence spending target: U.S. NATO ambassador
The U.S. ambassador to NATO says she has seen no indication that Canada has a plan to reach the NATO spending target of two per cent of GDP on defence.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.