August 12,2025
RED FM News Desk
A fast-moving wildfire near Port Alberni, B.C., has grown out of control, reaching 859 hectares by Tuesday morning.
Roughly 300 people have been evacuated from a nearby campground and marina, and more than 500 B.C. Hydro customers southwest of the blaze remain without power, according to the utility’s outage list.
Named the Mount Underwood wildfire, the blaze is burning about 12 kilometers south of Port Alberni, a city of around 19,000 located roughly 60 kilometers northwest of Nanaimo.
First spotted on Monday, the fire expanded rapidly — from about 50 hectares at 7 p.m. PT to 630 hectares just three hours later — surpassing the size of the nearby Wesley Ridge fire at its peak.
The road between Bamfield, a community of about 300 year-round residents, and Port Alberni is closed in both directions due to the fire, with officials advising drivers to use the Cowichan route instead.
B.C. Hydro said in a 7:15 a.m. Tuesday update that crews have been assigned to restore service, but no timeline has been given for power to return. The outage began around 6 p.m. Monday. The cause of the fire is under investigation. There are currently 97 active wildfires in B.C.
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