Patrick Patterson quickly packed his suitcase after the smoke settled over Fort St. John, a city that was placed under evacuation alert Monday as wildfires burned in northeastern B.C. He said some residents then spent two hours waiting in line for gas in case the evacuation alert turned into an order. Some had already hit the road, but Mr. Patterson and others held back to make sure their homes were in order. He said the last time the city of 21,000 experienced a wildfire threat to this magnitude was in 2016, when Fort St. John was on alert around the same time as the Fort McMurray fire that led to the evacuation of more than 90,000 people and destroyed 2,930 buildings.
“It kind of triggered the same memories,” Mr. Patterson said.
He said the initial panic from Monday calmed by Tuesday, as winds died down and skies became clearer. However, the city remains under evacuation alert. The evacuation alert in Fort St. John was trigged by the Stoddart Creek wildfire, which is an estimated 23,500 hectares as of Tuesday and suspected to be human-caused.
As of Tuesday afternoon, there were 60 active fires in B.C., of which 15 are out of control. According to the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, there were approximately 5,100 people across B.C. under an evacuation order as of Monday afternoon, and about 33,000 under an alert. Communities near Fort St. John – Blueberry River First Nation, Doig River First Nation and Peace River Regional District – have issued evacuation orders. The Peace River region has issued multiple alerts and orders because of other fires such as those in Boundry Lake, Cameron River, Donnie Creek and Red Creek.
Source: .theglobeandmail.com/
Saturday, April 18, 2026
