Published on Aug. 13, 2025, 11:01 AM
Power out for about 500 B.C. Hydro customers since Monday evening, regional district expands evacuation order
A wildfire near Port Alberni, B.C., is rapidly growing out of control and has more than doubled in size in less than a day.
The Mount Underwood wildfire, measuring almost 14.5 square kilometres as of 7 p.m. PT, is located just over 10 kilometres south of the Vancouver Island city, which is home to around 19,000 people.
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About 300 people were evacuated Monday from a nearby campground and marina, and the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District (ACRD) issued a new evacuation order Tuesday for the Mount Underwood area, including parts of the Bamfield and Cherry Creek electoral areas.
The order said the wildfire is a “threat to those in the evacuation order” and is “surrounding the Bamfield Main Road and making it impassable.”
The Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District issued an evacuation order for the Mount Underwood wildfire on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025, covering parts of the Bamfield and Cherry Creek electoral areas, south of Port Alberni, B.C. Later on Tuesday, they added an evacuation alert for areas just north of the ones on order. (Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District)
Later on Tuesday evening, the ACRD issued an evacuation alert — meaning residents should be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice — for an area just north of the one on evacuation order, declaring a local state of emergency in the process.