Pear Lake Fire Surges Past 160,000 Hectares; Evacuation Orders Expand Along Highway 99

The Pear Lake fire near Clinton, BC grew from 124,656 hectares on Aug 4 to 162,326 hectares by Aug 21 and 164,745 hectares by Aug 24, making it the season's second-largest blaze behind Thunder Bay 36. The Squamish-Lillooet Regional District expanded its evacuation order to cover more than 100 properties in the Pavilion Lake/Marble Canyon area, the Thompson-Nicola Regional District ordered out two properties on Highway 99, and the Bonaparte and Ts'kw'aylaxw First Nations evacuated several reserves — bringing total properties under order to nearly 200. Six evacuation orders and six evacuation alerts remain in place across the Big Bar fire complex; BC Wildfire Service crews conducted planned ignitions to remove fuel between the fire and control lines ahead of a forecast warming-and-drying trend starting Aug 24.