Massive Ainslie Creek wildfire may close Highway 8 between Merritt and Spences Bridge

The Brunswick Complex of wildfires has already forced the closure of the Trans-Canada Highway in the Boston Bar area. Elsewhere, the Pear Like wildfire closed Highway 97 from south of the Village of Clinton to the 70 Mile area while the Bald Range wildfire closed Highway 97 from south of Peachland to north of Penticton.

Early Monday evening, the Thompson-Nicola Regional District expanded its evacuation alert in response to the Ainslie Creek wildfire to include some properties east of the Coquihalla Highway. However, the wildfire service says there is no imminent threat to the City of Merritt or the stretch of Highway 5 at this time.

Fire activity on the southeast flank of the Ainslie Creek wildfire remained at Rank 3 Monday, meaning a moderately vigorous surface fire. The wildfire service expected to see continued growth Tuesday (Aug. 11) afternoon.

“The closest edge of the current perimeter on this flank is measuring approximately [10-to-11 kilometres] from Highway 5,” the wildfire service states. “For the last several days much of our recent activity observed on the southeastern section of this as fire has been consuming pockets of unburnt fuel and upslope growth to the north and south, but has been making steady progress through denser fuel types eastward.”

The Brunswick Complex of wildfires near Boston Bar has triggered evacuation orders and alerts from the TNRD and multiple nearby First Nations. It also caused the closure of the Trans Canada Highway through the Boston Bar area.

The Ainslie Creek wildfire is measured at around 54,131.78 hectares in size, and suspected to be human caused. The wildfire service 236 firefighters and 76 structure protection personnel are assigned to the Brunswick Complex. They’re accompanied by 59 pieces of heavy equipment, 19 helicopters and an incident management team.