File:Battleship Mountain Complex, British Columbia (MODIS 2022-09-16).jpg

English: As the cooling weather of autumn approaches, the fire season in British Columbia has heated up. After a summer with only moderate fire activity, storms near the end of August brought little rain but plenty of lightning to the mountainous region north of the city of Prince George, Canada, igniting a number of wildfires in difficult and forested terrain.

On September 14, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image centered on the Battleship Mountain Complex. The complex contains at least 6 different fires, all ignited by lightning. In this image, each red “hot spot” marks an area of actively burning fire. Not all of these hot spots mark individual fires, but several appear to be active fronts belonging to the largest blaze, the Battleship Mountain Fire.

The largest of these, the Battleship Mountain Fire, was first detected on August 30 about 50 kilometers (31 mi) west of Hudson’s Hope. According to the BC Wildfire Service, as of September 15 the blaze had encompassed about 29,614 hectares and was classified as “Out of Control”. The east flank has approached to within 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) of the W.A.C. Bennet Dam and 8 kilometers (5 km) from the District of Hudson’s Hope. Increasing winds has fueled more active fire behavior, and the fire has shown aggressive growth in some fronts. Crews continue to aggressively work the fire, including by direct attack and by through various methods to protect values and contain the fire. These include building guards by hand and, where possible, with heavy machinery; building containment lines around Wright Lake; and planned ignitions to clear areas of fuel, which will stop fire spread.

The Municipality of Hudson’s Hope is under a State of Local Emergency and an Evacuation Order. The Peace River Regional District has issued an expanded Evacuation Order.