Port Alberni broke its all time high temperature record yesterday, with the mercury topping out at 42.2 degrees Celcius at the airport weather station, beating the previous record of 41.7°C set July 10 1926.
The high temperature made firefighting more challenging yesterday afternoon, as what started as a small fire in Cherry Creek quickly grew out of control.
Two helicopters and a water bombing plane were called in to help area firefighters control the fire.
Cherry Creek fire chief Lucas Banton said crews remain on scene at the end of Clayton Road, hitting the remaining hotspots
“We’re working on further containment, so we have wet lines around the burned area and we have four crews working on it and they’re working towards the centre of it,” he said. “We have organic material and stumps still mouldering and burning.”
Dorothe Jacobsen from the Coastal Fire Centre says people need to be very cautious right now
“We continue to ask people to be very careful out there,” she said. “There is a full-on Category 2, Category 3 and campfire ban coming into effect tomorrow at noon, so people should not be having any fires.”
There are volunteer crews from throughout the Alberni Valley and 12 coastal fire centre firefighters along with a helicopter assisting Cherry Creek crews today.
No structures are currently in danger from the human caused fire.
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