The heat is on

Nancy Hudson and her family weren’t all that surprised when Mounties knocked on their door by police in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday, July 28.

The Hudson family had gathered several hours earlier to watch a growing wildfire a few kilometres away in Barnhartvale.

So, when an RCMP member told Hudson to be ready to leave her Juniper Ridge home at a moment’s notice, the family calmly started packing.

With limited space in an SUV, Hudson grabbed the most important items — pictures, insurance papers and her wedding dress.

It was the first time since moving into the neighbourhood four years ago such a scene had come their way.

“Living on the edge of the forest here, we’ve thought about it and discussed it,” Hudson said.

At the same time, dozens of other residents in East Juniper were getting the same message from police.

As it turned out, no one in the neighbourhood would be forced to flee their home.

However, nearly 150 people living in the Riverview RV Park near Dallas were given evacuation orders at 1 a.m. as the result of the aggressive wildfire that ignited behind the Dallas-Barnhartvale Baptist Church just after 9 p.m. the night before.

The fire quickly spread behind the fairways of the Pineridge Golf Course, moving into the hills, toward Juniper.

Residents of the mobile-home park were told to check into an emergency-reception centre at Heritage House in Riverside Park.

Within a few hours, the blaze grew to 50 hectares, swallowing a path of trees and brush that stretched as far as the eye could see near Highway 1.

The smoke was so thick, visibility along the highway was difficult for a period of time.

The stubborn fire kept crews busy for hours as winds made the fighting the inferno unpredictable.

Since it was night, crews on the ground couldn’t get any air support.

By Thursday morning (July 29), 85 per cent of the blaze had been contained and the evacuation order had been lifted.

Crews were still on scene, putting out the remaining hot spots.

There is no word yet on the cause of the fire.

Fire officials were expected to lift the remaining evacuation alerts by 5 p.m. on Thursday.

Nine initial attack firefighters and two officers from the B.C. Forest Service worked overnight to build containment lines, assisting 26 members of Kamloops Fire Rescue.

An additional 40 wildland fighters were on the fireline the following morning.

Residents of Cheakamus Place, Similkameen Place, Birkenhead Drive and Birkenhead Place were also on evacuation alert for a time.

There were no injuries or structures damaged.

n Meanwhile, lightning strikes this week ignited 165 new fires in B.C., including a blaze at Bonaparte Lake near Barriere.