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UPDATE: Out of control wildfire west of Port Alberni now being held

UPDATE: As of 8:52 a.m., Coastal Fire Service says the fire west of Port Alberni is currently held at 23.51 hectares, with the fire near Lang Bay now put out.

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Two fires have started in the Coastal Region.

A fire just west of Port Alberni was discovered on Jun. 8, and Coastal Fire says the fire is 23.51 Hectares in size and is currently being investigated, which could take time. 

“Wildfire investigations often take time and can be very complex,” they say on their website. “Investigations may be carried out by one or more agencies, including the BC Wildfire Service, the Compliance and Enforcement Branch, the RCMP, or other law enforcement agencies and may be cross-jurisdictional.” 

They say the suspected cause behind this fire indicates humans likely started it.

The other fire was discovered on the same day just east of Powell River, near Lang Bay, and the 0.6 Hectares fire has been put out.

According to the BC Wildfire Service, since Apr. 1 there have been 328 fires started, with 71 per cent of them being human-caused, and that have burned 323,428 Hectares across the province.  

In 2024, almost 1.1 million hectares were burned in BC, which is 1.8 million less than 2023. 

Justin Baumgardner
Justin Baumgardner
Justin Baumgardner is a local reporter in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, and is based in Duncan. He has worked in radio for over three years, with all of them in British Columbia. He was previously at 91.7 Coast FM in Nanaimo and also has shows on 95.7 Coast FM, and the weekend show on 89.7 Sun FM. When he is not on the air, he can be found travelling the island and enjoying everything that beautiful British Columbia has to offer.

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