Wildfire in Grand Forks, B.C., under control and highway reopened
Mayor says no structures are threatened
A wildfire burning just outside the city centre of Grand Forks, B.C., closed a major highway on Thursday.
According to the B.C. Wildfire Service, the grass fire was discovered shortly before 4 p.m. PT and is within the city limits of Grand Forks, a community of approximately 4,000 people located just north of the Canada-U.S. border, about 400 kilometres east of Vancouver.
The closure of a stretch of Highway 3 was first reported by DriveBC at around 4 p.m. PT Thursday, but was reopened within a couple of hours.
A map on the B.C. Wildfire page shows the fire is near a green space along the Kettle River, across the highway from several rural residences.
The page said the fire was 0.3 hectares in size as of 5:30 p.m. PT. It also said the human-caused fire is considered under control and is not expected to spread beyond its current perimeter.
The service said it was supporting the Grand Forks fire department with an initial attack crew, a wildfire officer and a helicopter.
Grand Forks Mayor Everett Baker said no structures are threatened.