A fire on a mountaintop southwest of Nanaimo is creating challenges for B.C. Wildfire crews.
The Green Mountain wildfire, in the Nanaimo River area, was first reported in the early afternoon Friday.
Dorthe Jakobsen, fire information officer with the Coastal Fire Centre, said it’s believed the fire started from a lightning strike during the thunder storm early Friday morning.
Jakobsen said the fire was estimated at eight hectares on Friday night and nine hectares Saturday morning.
Access to the mountaintop location, she said, is “terrible,” but there are air tankers, four helicopters, heavy equipment and crews at the scene.
A second wildfire in the Green Mountain area was identified Saturday and added to B.C. Wildfire Service’s website.
Jakobsen said lightning will be worrisome in the August heat after what has been a cool, COVID-19-locked-down summer.
“We’ve had a very quiet summer,” Jakobsen said. “We have had some abandoned campfires, but not a lot.”
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