Squamish Valley wildfire 50 per cent contained by fire crews

The B.C. Wildfire Service said Saturday afternoon that a wildfire burning near Squamish remains out of control but is 50 per cent contained.

The fire is located 15 kilometres northwest of Brackendale, and currently covers 203 hectares or two square kilometres.

It was first discovered Thursday and led to the evacuation of about 30 people's homes. Others remain on evacuation alert.

Some residents say the fire has destroyed several homes.

The Coastal Fire Centre says the fire broke out in a valley and ran up a slope.

"Crews are working on hot spots on the valley bottom but they're also working along the slope, so we have most of our firefighters at this time on the slope and it's very steep terrain," said fire information officer Marg Drysdale. 

While the fire remains uncontained, Drysdale says firefighters have made very good progress. 

"The fire has actually been fairly calm today, the last two days have been relatively the same," said Drysdale. "There has been no growth on the fire."

"Crews are making great progress. We expect that they will continue to make that kind of progress as the weather looks like it's going to hold for the next two days, and then we are likely going to get showers on Tuesday."

Officials believe the fire was human-caused, possibly by a slash pile burn that got out of control.

With files from The Canadian Press