“Extreme” wildfire near Pemberton, B.C. has grown to about 650 hectares

A wildfire burning about 67 kilometres west of Pemberton, British Columbia has now grown to about 650 hectares, according to the provincial Ministry of Environment.

The Elaho wildfire “is exhibiting extreme fire behaviour due to dry conditions, a weather inversion and the fuel types present in the area,” the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Two officers, 70 firefighters, five helicopters, two excavators, a water tender and four fallers are currently onsite and an incident management team from the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations’ Wildfire Management Branch was en route as of Wednesday morning.

The fire is about 10% contained.

Related: Fire crews continue to fight wildfire near Lytton, British Columbia

“This fire is burning in steep, inaccessible terrain,” the statement said, adding that reduced visibility due to smoke continues to challenge firefighters.

Depending on prevailing winds, smoke can travel long distances and the smoke from this wildfire continues to drift into the Squamish/Pemberton valley. The inversion is forcing the smoke to move along valley bottoms in the mornings and when the inversion lifts about midday, the fire’s behaviour becomes less predictable, the ministry noted.

Related: Winds uncooperative as hundreds of firefighters battle raging B.C. wildfire

The Elaho fire was human-caused, but does not appear to be due to industrial activity. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

The province has seen a series of fires recently, from a 1,500-hectare fire near Lytton last week to other smaller fires. And the 25,569-hectare Little Bobtail Lake fire, which was discovered on May 9 near Norman Lake, was not fully contained until the end of May.