{"id":809649,"date":"2026-07-18T07:55:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T07:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/809649\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T07:55:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T07:55:19","slug":"lightning-strikes-spark-three-new-wildfires-on-vancouver-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/809649\/","title":{"rendered":"Lightning strikes spark three new wildfires on Vancouver Island"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three new wildfires caused by lightning sparked northwest of Campbell River Friday, two are listed out of control, according to the BC Wildfire Service.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the two out of control fires, a fire labelled <a href=\"https:\/\/wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca\/incidents?fireYear=2026&amp;incidentNumber=V80937&amp;source=map\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca\/incidents?fireYear=2026&amp;incidentNumber=V80937&amp;source=map\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">V80937<\/a> sparked near Tlowils Lake, measuring 0.009 hectares as of 4:16 p.m. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Further west, the second out of control wildfire sparked just south of Highway 19. The Eve River fire <a href=\"https:\/\/wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca\/incidents?fireYear=2026&amp;incidentNumber=V80955&amp;source=map\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca\/incidents?fireYear=2026&amp;incidentNumber=V80955&amp;source=map\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">V80955<\/a> currently sits at .009 hectares, says the service. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The third wildfire discovered Friday is listed under control <a href=\"https:\/\/wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca\/incidents?fireYear=2026&amp;incidentNumber=V80936&amp;source=map\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca\/incidents?fireYear=2026&amp;incidentNumber=V80936&amp;source=map\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">V80936<\/a>. Located near White River, and White River Park, it measures .009 hectares. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All three wildfires are in the same north region of the Island.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen lightning strikes an object it can release enough heat to ignite a tree or other fuels,\u201d states BCWS.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the latest updates, visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca\/map?longitude=-125.993&amp;latitude=50.163&amp;activeWildfires=true\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca\/map?longitude=-125.993&amp;latitude=50.163&amp;activeWildfires=true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BC Wildfire Service<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Friday morning, Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm watch for most of Vancouver Island, including the North Island. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">READ: <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the midst of the storms, the north Island community Port Hardy kicked off its biggest event of the year today. For nearly five decades, FILOMI Days draws thousands to the community over the three-day weekend. With heavy rain and thunder and lightning in the forecast, organizers hope the events can continue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">READ: <a href=\"https:\/\/cheknews.ca\/were-from-port-hardy-were-used-to-bad-weather-filomi-days-kicks-off-friday-amid-severe-thunderstorm-watch-1336959\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/cheknews.ca\/were-from-port-hardy-were-used-to-bad-weather-filomi-days-kicks-off-friday-amid-severe-thunderstorm-watch-1336959\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Port Hardy\u2019s biggest event of the year kicks off Friday amid severe thunderstorm watch<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/cheknews.ca\/author\/lbrowncheknews-ca\/\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Avatar photo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/cropped-Erin-Haluschak-400-x-450-120x120.jpg\"  class=\"avatar avatar-120 photo\" height=\"120\" width=\"120\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLiz Brown joined CHEK News in the fall of 2024. Over the years, she has worked with the National Film Board, CBC Radio, the Chetwynd Echo Newspaper, NowMedia and contributed to print and online features&#8230;.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"author-link\" href=\"https:\/\/cheknews.ca\/author\/lbrowncheknews-ca\/\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMore by Liz Brown\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three new wildfires caused by lightning sparked northwest of Campbell River Friday, two are listed out of control,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-809649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}