Blaze near Cathedral Grove, but B.C. fire service says ancient forest not at risk

Vancouver Island photographer Colby Rex O’Neill has had restless nights as a wildfire burns less than a kilometre from his home.

That’s a worry, but he also fears the Wesley Ridge fire could reach what he called a “national treasure” — Cathedral Grove, a temperate rainforest with trees that are about 800 years old, located in a park on central Vancouver Island.

Rex O’Neill said he was closely watching the fire burning east of MacMillan Provincial Park, which contains what he described as “one of the most beautiful forests in the world.”

“I feel like, if it ever really was being threatened, that we would need to do something as a country to protect it. That forest is a very special place,” he said.

Madison Dahl, a fire information officer with the BC Wildfire Service, said the renowned grove was not threatened by the blaze on Tuesday.

She told a media briefing the fire was displaying mostly rank-one behaviour, meaning a “smouldering ground fire with no open flame.”

The northwest part of the blaze was displaying rank-two behaviour on Tuesday, referring to “a low, vigorous surface fire with some visible flame,” she noted.

There had been minimal growth overnight as helicopters equipped with night-vision technology worked to dump water on hot spots, Dahl said.

The Regional District of Nanaimo maintained an evacuation order covering nearly 390 homes on the north side of Cameron Lake and Highway 4, where Dahl said crews had established structure protection for homes and critical infrastructure.

Dahl said there was no growth overnight at the northeast corner of the fire near homes in the area of Little Qualicum River Regional Park.

“Groundcrews and structure protection teams patrolled the wildland urban interface in these areas through the night, extinguishing hot spots,” she said.

The Wesley Ridge fire is burning 60 kilometres northwest of Nanaimo and spans just over five square kilometres.

Highway 4 passes through MacMillan Provincial Park and the regional district has told people to avoid stopping in the area.

Douglas Holmes, emergency operations director for the regional district, said 509 evacuees had received emergency support services online or in person, and a reception centre was open in Qualicum Beach.

An additional 250 properties were subject to evacuation alert, meaning residents have been told to get ready to leave on short notice, he said.

More than 200 firefighters and seven helicopters were assigned to the blaze.

Holmes told Tuesday’s briefing that people should stay off the water at Horn Lake and Spider Lake to leave room for firefighting aircraft to operate. Access to Cameron Lake had already been shut down, he said.

Rex O’Neill said he takes visiting friends and family to see the beauty of Cathedral Grove, about a 10-minute drive from his home, which was subject to an evacuation alert.

He said the wildfire was intense when it started last week, producing ashes that sprinkled over the hood of his car.

“It was big and it was fast and it was powerful. You could hear the trees exploding, basically collapsing, falling into the lake,” he said, adding it felt like a “weird nightmare dream.”

The number of wildfires burning in British Columbia more than doubled in the past week after a stretch of hot, dry weather and thunderstorms that produced tens of thousands of lightning strikes.

There were more than 130 active fires in B.C. on Tuesday, up from about 60 a week ago.

An update from the BC Wildfire Service said cooler temperatures and scattered showers were expected across much of the province over the next two days, with lingering thunderstorms in eastern parts of the southern Interior.

The bulletin posted Tuesday said some areas, such as the north, western Cariboo and Kamloops, likely wouldn’t see rain.

A return to warmer and drier conditions is forecast for the end of the week, it said.

“While the downturn in weather is assisting our response efforts, new lightning-caused wildfire starts are expected from the nearly 70,000 strikes received over the past week,” the bulletin said.

About 40 wildfires were classified as burning out of control on Tuesday, with Environment Canada issuing a series of smoke-related air quality statements for parts of the Cariboo, Okanagan, Fraser Canyon, Prince George and South Thompson regions, along with parts of eastern Vancouver Island.

The 14-square-kilometre Cantilever Bar fire continued to burn out of control on the west side of the Fraser River about 10 kilometres south of Lytton.

The wildfire service said the blaze was “highly visible” from Highway 1.

An update posted Tuesday said fire activity increased the day before, but smoke was coming from within the fire perimeter and crews did not see any new growth.

The blaze has prompted evacuation orders and alerts by the Thompson Nicola Regional District and the Lytton, Skuppah and Siska First Nations.

The Regional District of Central Okanagan lifted an evacuation alert for 118 properties in the Peachland area on Tuesday, saying the nearby Drought Hill wildfire had been brought under control and the threat to life and safety had passed.

— With files from Brenna Owen

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 5, 2025.