Smoke from a wildfire could be seen across Vancouver as firefighters in West Vancouver responded to the blaze on the slopes of Cypress Falls Park, not far from the neighbourhood of Caulfeild.
West Vancouver fire duty chief Matt Furlot said crews responded Friday morning to the blaze in a heavily wooded area with many homes and businesses nearby.
The BC Wildfire Service said six helicopters, crews and an officer from the service are working to contain the fire.
The fire is burning east of Horseshoe Bay and is estimated at two hectares in size, but the fire department said it isn’t growing.
“Trails in the vicinity are closed. Please stay away from the area until further notice,” the department said on Twitter Friday.
Conditions across the Lower Mainland remain extremely dry, with less than 20 millimetres of rain recorded in the area since early July.
Temperature records were set in 21 communities around the province, some of them breaking records established more than 100 years ago.
Drought conditions in the Lower Mainland are at the top of the 1-to-5 scale, which indicates economic impacts are almost certain to occur.
Another newly ignited fire, burning near Port Alberni on central Vancouver Island, is 0.6 hectares in size. The wildfire service is reporting that it is suspected to be human-caused.
Port Alberni set a temperature record of 25.7 C on Thursday, breaking the old record of 22.8 C set in 1916.
The B.C. Wildfire dashboard shows an increase of 63 new fires since Oct. 7, nine of them since Wednesday.
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