Vancouver Island photographer Colby Rex O'Neill has had restless nights as a wildfire burns less than a kilometre from his home.
That's a worry, but he also fears the Wesley Ridge fire could reach what he calls a "national treasure" — Cathedral Grove, a temperate rainforest containing trees that are about 800 years old.
Rex O'Neill says he is closely watching the fire as it burns east of the park on central Vancouver Island that contains what he describes as "one of the most beautiful forests in the world."
"I feel like, if it ever really was being threatened, that we would need to do something as a country to protect it. That forest is a very special place," he says.
Madison Dahl, a fire information officer with the BC Wildfire Service, says the renowned grove is "not threatened" by the blaze, which was displaying mostly rank one behaviour, meaning a "smouldering ground fire with no open flame."
Dahl told a briefing on Tuesday there had been "minimal growth" overnight as helicopters equipped with night-vision technology worked to dump water on hot spots.
Still, the fire has prompted an evacuation order covering nearly 390 homes on the north side of Cameron Lake and Highway 4, where Dahl says crews have established structure protection for homes and critical infrastructure.
Rex O'Neill says he takes visiting friends and family to see the beauty of Cathedral Grove, about a 10-minute drive from his home.
The Wesley Ridge fire is burning 60 kilometres northwest of Nanaimo and spans just over five square kilometres.
Highway 4 passes through MacMillan Provincial Park, home to Cathedral Grove, and the Regional District of Nanaimo has told people to avoid stopping in the area.
Rex O'Neill, whose home is subject to an evacuation alert, says the fire was intense when it started last week, producing ashes that sprinkled over the hood of his car.
"It was big and it was fast and it was powerful. You could hear the trees exploding, basically collapsing, falling into the lake," he says, adding it felt like a "weird nightmare dream."
Dahl says there was no growth overnight at the northeast corner of the fire near homes in the area of Little Qualicum River Regional Park.
"Groundcrews and structure protection teams patrolled the wildland urban interface in these areas through the night, extinguishing hot spots," she told the briefing.
There were more than 200 firefighters and seven helicopters assigned to the blaze.
The number of wildfires burning in British Columbia has more than doubled in the past week after a stretch of hot, dry weather and thunderstorms that produced more than 67,000 lightning strikes.
There are more than 130 active fires in B.C., up from about 60 a week ago, though the BC Wildfire Service says cooler temperatures, scattered showers and a decrease in thunderstorm activity would help firefighting efforts this week.
About 40 wildfires are classified as burning out of control across B.C., with Environment Canada issuing a series of smoke-related air quality statements for parts of the Cariboo, Okanagan, Fraser Canyon, Prince George and South Thompson regions, along with parts of eastern Vancouver Island.
The 14-square-kilometre Cantilever Bar fire continues to burn out of control on the west side of the Fraser River about 10 kilometres south of Lytton.
The wildfire service said the blaze is "highly visible" from Highway 1.
An update posted Tuesday said fire activity increased the day before, but smoke was coming from within the fire perimeter and crews did not see any new growth.
The blaze has prompted evacuation orders and alerts by the Thompson Nicola Regional District and the Lytton, Skuppah and Siska First Nations.
The Regional District of Central Okanagan lifted an evacuation alert for 118 properties in the Peachland area on Tuesday, saying the nearby Drought Hill wildfire had been brought under control and the threat to life and safety had passed.
— With files from Brenna Owen
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 5, 2025.
Nono Shen, The Canadian Press
