Wildfire in Etcho Creek continues to grow

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BC Wildfire Service crews move beneath smoke from the Etcho Creek wildfire. (BCWS)

FORT NELSON, B.C. — British Columbia’s largest wildfire has gotten bigger.

The latest update on the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) website says the Etcho Creek wildfire near Fort Nelson grew by more than 11,000 hectares over the weekend.

The blaze has burned 234,657 hectares so far, up from the 223,441 reported on Saturday, June 28th.

The fire – an overwintering blaze from a previous wildfire season – was first found to have reignited on May 2nd.

In the weeks since then, the fire has consistently been one of the largest in the province, although no evacuation orders or alerts have been issued for it.

BCWS’ website says the blaze merged with the Petito River fire on Monday, June 30th, explaining the jump in size.

The blaze is under the purview of the incident management team dealing with the entire Fort Nelson fire zone.

In addition to that team, 12 helicopters have been assigned to the Fort Nelson region, and four pieces of heavy equipment have reportedly been assigned to the Etcho Creek fire specifically. No information was released regarding the number of personnel assigned to this fire.

Energeticcity.ca will update this story with new information as it becomes available.