Favourable weather helps wildfire fight in Fort Nelson, B.C.

On Friday night the mayor of the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality — which includes Fort Nelson — in consultation with the B.C. Wildfire Service, ordered the evacuation of his entire community.

As difficult as it's been for his friends and neighbours to live out of hotel rooms and RVs hundreds of kilometres away, Fraser knows things could have been a lot worse if not for favourable wind and the work of wildfire crews. But the latest report says overall conditions are favourable for firefighting, with 19 helicopters and 88 wildfire service personnel assigned to the blaze, in addition to municipal firefighters from the region.

The fire, which went dormant over the winter before re-emerging earlier this year, was measured at around 465 square kilometres as of Tuesday evening and had been upgraded to a wildfire of note, defined by the service as a fire that is "highly visible" or poses "a potential threat to public safety." "While we have made some progress on the south side of the fire, we are expecting the wind to change direction over the next few days which could push fire activity back towards the community,"Members of Doig River First Nation in need of support have been directed to the emergency support centre in Fort St. John.

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