While still burning out of control, enough of the Wesley Ridge wildfire has been contained for approximately one-third of the properties affected by an evacuation order to return home. (Dashwood Volunteer Fire Department)

By Jordan Davidson

Forest fire progress

Around one third of Wesley Ridge fire evacuees can return home

Aug 6, 2025 | 5:09 PM

PARKSVILLE — Some rural Qualicum beach-area residents evacuated this week due to an out-of-control wildfire are being allowed back home.

At 538 hectares in size as of Wednesday afternoon, progress continues against the Wesley Ridge wildfire north of Cameron Lake, with cooler and wetter conditions minimizing its growth to only 27 hectares in the last 24 hours.

Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) chief administrative officer and director of emergency operations Douglas Holmes, said their goal is to get people back into their homes, “as soon as it is safely possible to do so,” with around one-third of residents under evacuation order allowed to return home Wednesday evening.

“I’m pleased that we are working to finalize a partial re-entry. Full information will be available at our website, www.rdn.bc.ca/currentalerts, and shared directly with residents via Voyent alert and text messaging,” Holmes said during a Wednesday afternoon status update.

Those residents formally under an evacuation order will now be under an evacuation alert, with the RDN saying none of those properties have been impacted by the wildfire, nor did they lose power.

Freshman Class

Clippers' Grossbard coming into his own in rookie BCHL season

1h ago

season of giving

Record registrations for Great Nanaimo Toy Drive prompting call for volunteers

3h ago

fatal fire

Propane heater likely behind fatal north Nanaimo RV fire

6h ago

Holmes said the rest of those under evacuation order, 294 properties as of Wednesday afternoon, will remain displaced for now.

Including those being allowed to return home Wednesday evening, approximately 353 addresses now fall under the evacuation alert designation.

A current map of the affected areas north of Cameron Lake now under evacuation orders (red) or evacuation alerts. (RDN)

Several factors go into the decision to allow people to return home, including the wildfire’s proximity and if there were any disruptions in municipal services, Holmes said.

“Once that’s looked at, then it becomes a matter of looking at the state of the area around the homes, and the ability to move around the streets. When the people and equipment are deployed to fight a wildfire, they’re moving very quickly, and so all of that equipment needs to then be removed from the roads so that people can go back (to) their regular lives afterwards.”

Frontline firefighting progress continues

BC Wildfire Service information officer Madison Dahl said around 180 firefighting personnel, including nine helicopters and 47 incident management team members and eleven pieces of heavy equipment, continue battling the fire.

“Grounds crews have been taking advantage of cooler conditions to aggressively action the Wesley Ridge wildfire. They’ve made excellent progress in suppressing fire activity in residential areas, and are advancing to build containment lines along the more remote parts of the northern flank.”

She said while the approximately 1.4 millimetres of rain falling between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning did help a little, prolonged and significant rainfall is needed to have a serious impact on the wildfire and ongoing drought conditions in the area.

Thursday’s forecast is expected to be similar to Wednesday’s, Dahl said a ridge of high pressure is expected to settle over much of Coastal B.C. by the weekend, bringing with it more hot and dry conditions.

Subscribe to our daily news wrap. Local news delivered to your email inbox every evening. Stay up to date on everything Nanaimo and Oceanside.

info@nanaimonewsnow.com

Follow us on: Twitter (X) | Bluesky | Facebook