The Coastal Fire Centre says the Cecil Hill wildfire in Pender Harbour grew to five hectares overnight Monday and remains out of control, and now the SCRD has placed residents on Cecil Hill Road on evacuation alert as of 10:23 a.m. June 25.
The alert means the residents of roughly seven homes must be ready to leave with as little as 10 mintues notice.
Details of the alert notice can be found here.
Emergency Operations Centre manager Gerry Parker said, “This advisory alert is being made at this time solely in the interests of public safety and emergency planning. I emphasize that this is a general advisory only. More detailed information will be provided directly to residents in potentially affected areas as the situation develops.”
The fire, the second on the Sunshine Coast in less than a week, was first spotted early on the evening of June 24 in a heavily wooded and steeply sloped area on the west side of Highway 101, near Lily Lake.
Fire information office Marg Drysdale said Tuesday morning that the fire has moved downhill, closer to homes in the Gulfview Road, Dogwood Drive as well as Cecil Hill Road areas, about 600 metres from the fire zone.
Drysdale said crews were on the ground overnight, and helicopters resumed water-bucketing the fire in the morning.
Six helicopters have been assigned to the fire, along with 26 firefighters and Drysdale said air tanker support is standing by if needed.
The Pender Harbour Volunteer Fire Department is also on site and at the ready to provide structure protection if the fire gets dangerously close to homes and the Sechelt Fire Department's new structure protection unit is also on standby if requested.
“The fire is on a steep hill and it is in a dense forest canopy, but it’s burning at Rank 2/3, which is a ground fire, so it is burning low to the ground,” Drydale said.
The fire remains listed as "person caused."
