A wildfire south of Francois Lake has grown to the point where Bukley-Nechako Regional District has issued an evacuation order to people living in vicinity.
It was issued late Thursday night in response to the Island Lake wildfire and slightly more than a day after an evacuation alert was issued. The order affects 43485 and 44250 Holy Cross Binta Forest Service Road.
The fire stood at 800 hectares as of midday Friday, way up from a scant 75 hectares as of Thursday morning. The rapid expansion was due to embers being blown by the wind, B.C. Wildfire Service information officer Erin Catherall said.
An evacuation order issued late Wednesday night also remains in place in relation to the Nadina Lake wildfire 60 kilometres south of Houston. As of Friday, it stood at 3,800 hectares, more than double the 1,500 recorded the day before.
"Yesterday, we definitely saw extreme fire behaviour," Catherall said. "We did have to pull our crews off due to safety concerns."
The largest of the wildfires of note west of Prince George was also the quietest. The Shovel Lake fire northwest of Endako grew by 100 hectares to 5,100 hectares and was 10 per cent contained as of Friday.
"It really depends on the weather," Catherall said. "For some of the other areas, we've seen a lot of erratic winds. That, coupled with the really hot and dry conditions has allowed for these fires to show aggressive behaviour but Shovel Lake, for the most part, was fairly quiet yesterday."
The Verdun Mountain wildfire southwest of Grassy Plains was at 52 hectares and 75 per cent contained.
The Kluskus Forest Service Road was closed to traffic from 70 kilometres to 113 kilometres while a detour on the Red Road was available. An evacuation alert remained in place for the Tatelkuz Lake area.
As well, an air quality advisory remained in place for Prince George, along with Vanderhoof, Bulkley Valley and Lakes and the Cariboo.
