The BC Wildfire Service says the July Mountain Fire, south of Merritt, is now burning on both sides of the Coquihalla highway, at an estimated 5,669 hectares in size.

Fire Information Officer, Jean Strong, says there are helicopters responding to the fire burning on the east side of the highway.

“So at this point, we have two helicopters assigned to this fire in addition to 16 firefighters on the ground and pieces of heavy equipment. I also understand that smoke and the fire is visible from areas of the Coquihalla. It can certainly be an alarming site, but understand that we are actioning it.”

In a statement, the Wildfire Service says crews have been able to tie in a cut block on the east flank of the fire into the northeast corner to help protect the fire from moving towards Murray Lake.

“Crews will continue to work on the northeast corner of the fire today while four helicopters support the ground crews,” it said.

Like the White Rock Lake and Tremont Creek fires, this fire was driven by winds in the area yesterday. It was visible on the DriveBC cameras at Larson Hill, though it appears there was some rain that fell in the area this morning.

The Coquihalla remains remains open at this time with a travel advisory in place for a 21.6 km stretch between Exit 228 (Coquihalla Lakes Road) and Exit 250 (Larson Hill).

People are being told there is no stopping on the highway during the stretch of road mentioned above.

New evacuation orders issued

The Thompson-Nicola Regional District has issued an evacuation order for 98 properties because of the July Mountain Fire. Those properties are as follows:

• 5815 Brookmere Rd;
• 872 to 933 Brookmere Station Rd;
• 240 and 280 Busby Rd;
• 905 to 920 Caboose Lane;
• 3311 to 5633 Coldwater Rd;
• 5135 to 5147 Conductor Way;
• 5120 to 5132 Engineer Ave;
• 3040 to 3097 Figlenski Rd;
• 233 to 333 Gillis Rd;
• 440 to 1185 Kane Valley Rd;
• 5105 to 5152 Railway Dr;
• 852 to 1016 Roundhouse Dr; and
• other properties as identified on the attached map.

People are being told to stay with friends or family, or if that is not possible, to report to Chilliwack Senior Secondary School to register with Emergency Social Services.

The reception centre will be open at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

You can self-register online at ess.gov.bc.ca, of if you require help, you can call the ESS Info Line at 1-800-585-9559.

A further 142 properties northeast of the area have been put on evacuation alert, as follows:

• 1409 to 1485 Boston Bar Trail;
• 3400 to 3785 Cantlon Rd;
• 1020 to 2920 Coldwater Rd;
• 964 to1627 Covert Pl;
• 488 to 544 Harlow Moore Dr;
• 7925 to 8695 Hwy 5A;
• 9080 to 10884 Hwy 97C;
• 3485 to 4580 Iron Mountain Rd;
• 2973 to 5395 Kane Valley Rd;
• 585 to 720 Mountainview Rd;
• 921 and 990 Patchett Rd;
• 2105 and to 2725 Patchett Rd;
• 2141 to 2461 Peterson Rd;
• 2060 to 2140 Suttie Rd;
• 4600 Tillery Rd;
• 1780 and 1800 Veale Rd;
• 381 to 609 Wild Rose Dr; and
• other properties as identified on the attached map.

An evacuation order for people in 25 properties on Juliet Drive remains in place. Those properties were evacuated nearly three weeks ago, on July 20.