Nineteen fires merge to make Plateau fire one of largest in BC history

QUESNEL (NEWS 1130) – It’s one of the largest wildfires this province has ever seen. The Plateau wildfire is the product of 19 fires merging 60 kilometres west of Quesnel.

A number of homes in the Nazko Valley are closest to the fire and are at risk.

“Nazko is very close,” says Ellie Dupont with the BC Wildfire Service. “It’s just three kilometres from their village. It’s a great concern and we’ve been trying to communiciate with them as much as possible with every little advance that we make, and keeping them up to date on the weather.”

The fire is now 467,000 hectares in size. The aim is to hold the fire off as much as possible until the rain hits mid-week.

A fire that started north of Harrison Hot Springs on Saturday night has grown to 50 hectares in size. It’s believed to have been human-caused. Recreational boaters are being asked to steer clear of the Rainbow Falls area so helicopters can collect water from Harrison Lake to fight the fire.

There is some positive news, however: People in a number of communities northwest of Kamloops are being allowed to return home, as evacuation orders have been downgraded to alerts.

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