Forest Fire Burns Close To B.C. Town

A growing forest fire blazed to within 10 miles of this British Columbia interior town on Sunday, driving some people from their homes and forcing the closure of a road.

The Izman Creek Road leading to a lakeside residential community near Lytton was closed, and residents were urged to leave the area, said Wendy Stewart, a provincial fire information officer.

Two other roads service the area and many residents moved out Sunday, she said.

Wind and hot, dry conditions are fueling the fire, which is about 2,075 acres - twice the size of Vancouver’s Stanley Park.

Stewart said she expected the fire to grow with continued wind and “dry lightning” - lightning without rain.

“We really need a break in the weather,” she said.

The fire, which started in grass on private property has been blazing for a week.

It destroyed a house across from where it started, Stewart said.

An investigation is under way into how the fire started.

Two helicopters and 75 firefighters are battling the blaze and new personnel will arrive Tuesday, Stewart said.

Farther east in the Kootenay region, a small plane believed to be on patrol for new lightning-strike fires went down Sunday afternoon, but no information was available about the plane or its crew.

Fire crews responded to five reports of fire in central British Columbia, but none was out of control.