Hundreds on Vancouver Island still without power

More than 500 BC Hydro customers on the west coast of Vancouver Island have now been without electricity for over a week.

The utility provider says the power outages are affecting parts of Bamfield, Nitinaht Lake, Huu-ay-aht First Nation, and Ditidaht First Nation.

Since August 11, the blackouts — caused by the wildfire wiping out roughly 20 kilometres of power line — have affected 528 customers.

The wildfire that rages just north of the affected areas has also damaged other infrastructure.

“Crews are making steady progress rebuilding infrastructure destroyed by the wildfire,” BC Hydro said in a statement on its website.

This progress, however, is expected take weeks, as the utility company targets to fully restore power by August 30.

“We are actively exploring ways to accelerate that timeline.”

The end of the month would mark almost three weeks for those customers to be without power.

“We are used to having power off all the time because we live out in the bush and the power goes off on a weekly basis sometimes,” one Bamfield resident told 1130 NewsRadio.

50 people still under evacuation order

While some residents are home without power, others are not even home yet, as 50 people living near the fire zone are still under an evacuation order.

However, the mayor of Port Alberni said Tuesday that those evacuees should be able to return home soon as the fire is not expected to grow any further.

The BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) says firefighters are taking advantage of the recent rain and cooler weather, mopping up hot spots that may flare up when warmer and drier weather returns later this week.

“In the coming days, warmer and drier temperatures, but not expecting any significant growth on this incident,” said BCWS Spokesperson Karley Desrosiers.

She says that residents of Port Alberni will also start seeing more crews around the city because they are moving operations, stressing the fire has not increased in severity or intensity.

“It will likely become more visible to the surrounding community. But that is just because we are going to see some of those fuels dry out and emit more smoke.”

With files from Michael Williams.