A wildfire in the northeast corner of the province continues to grow in size as it burns through large sections of forest.

The BC Wildfire Service’s latest size estimate for the Donnie Creek wildfire, around 160 kilometres north of Fort St. John, is 487,509 hectares.

It became the second largest wildfire in BC history earlier this month, and it’s slowly closing in on the biggest, which was the 545,000-hectare Plateau wildfire near Williams Lake in 2017.

Photo Credit: BC Wildfire ServiceDonnie Creek wildfire

BCWS officials say there continues to be extensive smoke on the fire, but growth did slow a bit on Wednesday due to an inversion in temperatures.

The upcoming forecast looks favourable for firefighters as well, but significant rainfall will be needed to truly help suppression efforts.

“The fire danger rating for this part of the North Peace remains high to extreme despite rain being received in various parts of the region,” the BCWS explains. 

“This means forest fuels are very dry and the Donnie Creek wildfire can spread easily, burn vigorously, and challenge fire suppression efforts.”

Meanwhile, another significant blaze in northern BC continues to burn, as the West Kiskatinaw River wildfire is estimated at slightly more than 25,000 hectares in size.

An evacuation order issued for the nearby community of Tumbler Ridge was lifted today, a week after it was issued and forced 2,400 residents out of their homes.

Rain earlier this week was expected to reduce fire behaviour, which BCWS officials say give them a nice three to four day window before fuels dry up again.