British ColumbiaMore than 500 B.C. Hydro customers remain without power Wednesday, as “unprecedented” dry conditions, strong winds, hot weather and steep, rugged terrain continue to fuel the growing Mount Underwood fire.The Mount Underwood fire near Port Alberni grew again overnight, after doubling in size TuesdayLauren Vanderdeen · CBC News · Posted: Aug 13, 2025 11:26 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoThe Mount Underwood wildfire burns south of Port Alberni, B.C., on Monday. (Evan Hammond/The Canadian Press)Low on power or data? Use CBC Lite for the latest wildfire news.A Vancouver Island wildfire continues to grow out of control.The Mount Underwood fire jumped to 21.56 square kilometres (2,156 hectares) Wednesday morning, and is burning more than 10 kilometres south of Port Alberni, B.C., a small city home to about 19,000 people. The fire, which is roughly the same size as the City of Victoria, has prompted the city, Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District (ACRD) and Tseshaht First Nation to declare states of local emergency.More than 500 properties in the Bamfield and Anacla areas are still without power due to the blaze, according to B.C. Hydro’s outage list. Those properties haven’t had power since around 6 p.m. PT on Monday.The ACRD has said the power is expected to be out for longer than 72 hours.Evacuation orders have been issued by the ACRD and Cowichan Valley Regional District for a mix of commercial, industrial and recreational properties.WATCH | Vancouver Island wildfire grows rapidly: Mount Underwood wildfire near Port Alberni rages out of controlA fire just south of Port Alberni on Vancouver Island has grown to 14 square kilometres. It’s closed the main road to Bamfield, cut power to the west coast community and forced the evacuation of a nearby campground. Katie DeRosa reports. The fire rapidly expanded Tuesday, ballooning from about 6.3 square kilometres Monday night to almost 14.5 square kilometres Tuesday night, before growing again Wednesday.ACRD chair and Huu-ay-aht First Nations Chief Coun. John Jack said the quick growth of the fire is concerning.”This is a fire that hasn’t really been seen on Vancouver Island,” he told CBC’s On the Island Wednesday morning.Three evacuation alerts are also in effect, issued by the ACRD, the City of Port Alberni for the Cameron Heights neighbourhood, and the Tseshaht First Nation. The alerts, which require residents to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice, cover almost 200 affected properties.Jack stressed that those under evacuation alert should have a plan for where to stay, where to keep pets and what to do for medications, especially if they need refrigeration.’Unprecedented’ dry conditionsJulia Caranci, fire information officer with the B.C. Wildfire Service, said this “extreme” fire behaviour is unusual for Vancouver Island.”We are in the midst of a severe drought,” she said at a news conference on Tuesday. She noted strong winds had pushed the fire “aggressively” uphill.Smoke billows from the Mount Underwood fire, burning south of Port Alberni, B.C., on Tuesday. (Carlson Ng)”In the seven years I’ve worked for the Coastal Fire Centre, I don’t think I’ve seen a fire like this on Vancouver Island,” Caranci said.She said the “unprecedented” dry conditions, combined with the strong winds, hot weather and steep, rugged terrain, came together to contribute to the fire’s growth.”When the temperature is rising and the relative humidity falls, and we have strong winds pushing on a new incident, we can see that explosive type of growth. Again, we don’t normally see that on fires on Vancouver Island.”Wildfire officers do not expect the upcoming rain to have a strong impact on the current fire behaviour, Caranci said.The B.C. government issued an air quality advisory due to smoke from the Mount Underwood wildfire. Smoke clouded the air, as seen from Victoria Quay, in Port Alberni Wednesday. (Claire Palmer/CBC)B.C. Wildfire Service crews, including five helicopters and five skimmers, are responding to the fire.The province has issued an air quality warning due to the wildfire smoke. It recommended residents near Port Alberni and areas to the southeast, such as Lake Cowichan, limit their time outdoors, as increasing smoke levels can increase health risks.The service said there is no threat to Bamfield or Port Alberni at this time, but has asked non-residents to stay away from Bamfield, an unincorporated community with about 300 year-round residents, to avoid putting more pressure on the community.Power outage in Bamfield areaB.C. Hydro says it’s likely to be many days, possibly more than a week, before power is restored to Bamfield and the nearby Ditidaht First Nation.”It all depends on when we’re given permission to go into the area to do the assessment,” said Ted Olynyk, manager of community relations for B.C. Hydro, Vancouver Island-Sunshine Coast.Olynyk said the utility company needs to wait for clearance from BCWS and government authorities in order for it to be safe for crews to assess the damage.And once Hydro crews can assess, then the repairs need to take place.”That can be a couple days; it could be up to a week, depending on the amount of damage we’re faced with.”Olynyk said there have been some pictures from the air showing damage to power lines.”But we don’t know if it’s just five poles, five kilometres worth of poles [or] how much damage we have to deal with.”Jack, ACRD chair, said Wednesday morning that the community hall and office operate on propane, and generators operate on diesel or gasoline.He said organizations are working to get fuel to the community through the alternate route to and from the Cowichan area.ABOUT THE AUTHORLauren Vanderdeen is a web writer for CBC British Columbia. She formerly worked for community newspapers, including the Burnaby Now and New West Record. You can reach her at lauren.vanderdeen@cbc.ca.With files from On the Island, Emily Fagan and Maryse Zeidler
‘Explosive’ wildfire growth near Port Alberni, B.C., unusual for Vancouver Island: wildfire service
