BREAKING NEWS: TNRD expands evacuation alert area east of Highway 5 due to Ainslie Creek wildfire

The Thompson-Nicola Regional District’s (TNRD) evacuation alert area in response to the massive Ainslie Creek wildfire has been expanded to include properties east of the Coquihalla Highway.

Effective at 7:30 p.m. Monday (Aug. 10), the TNRD placed 118 additional properties in areas south of Brookmere, south of Comstock Road and north of Juliet Drive on evacuation alert.

Residents in the following properties within Electoral Area “N” (Beautiful Nicola Valley – South) must be ready to evacuate on short notice:

• 5815 Brookmere Rd.
• 872 to 933 Brookmere Station Rd.
• 905 to 920 Caboose Lane
• 5340 to 5633 Coldwater Rd. S
• 5135 to 5147 Conductor Way
• 5120 to 5132 Engineer Ave.
• 3040 to 3097 Figlenski Rd.
• 3765 Iron Mountain Rd.
• 440 to 2985 Kane Valley Rd.
• 5644 to 5868 Maka-Murray FSR
• 5101 to 5152 Railway Dr.
• 852 to 1016 Roundhouse Dr.
• any other properties as outlined on the above map.

In total, nearly 840 addressed properties within TNRD Electoral Areas “I” (Blue Sky Country), “M” (Beautiful Nicola Valley – North) and “N” are on evacuation alert.

The TNRD says the evacuation alert is in place to prepare residents to evacuate their premises or property should it be found necessary. While residents will be given as much advance notice as possible prior to an evacuation order, the TNRD says they may receive limited notice due to changing conditions.

The expanded evacuation alert comes three days after the TNRD issued an evacuation order 57 addressed properties in the Coldwater/Patchett area. It also comes two days after the regional district’s evacuation order was expanded to include 61 properties in areas near Spius Creek, Petit Creek Road and Prospect Creek.

As of its latest update at around 12:30 p.m. Monday, the BC Wildfire Service says the Ainslie Creek wildfire within the Brunswick Complex is measured at around 54,131.78 hectares in size. The wildfire service said it expected to see continued aggressive growth and fire behaviour once the southeastern flank of the Ainslie Creek wildfire had clean air and elevated winds.

Highway 5 about 36 kilometres south of Merritt, at Larson Hill, looking north shortly after 8:00 p.m. Monday (Image credit: DriveBC).

As of the latest update, the wildfire service said the closest edge of the current perimeter of the southeast flank is nearly 10 to 11 kilometres away from the Coquihalla Highway.

“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 wildfire service states.

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 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.