More than 8,000 on evacuation alert as wildfire threatens Kimberley, B.C.

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The City of Kimberley is under an evacuation alert due to a nearby out-of-control wildfire.

The city of about 8,000 people in the East Kootenay region is located east of the Matthew Creek wildfire, which was sparked on Saturday by lightning.

The fire is now an estimated 567 hectares in size.

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Wildfire officials said the fire is burning on a steep slope and is being fuelled by high winds.

Kimberley residents are getting ready to leave at a moment’s notice.

“We had ash falling on us today and that kind of worried me at the time because that’s usually the number one sign you gotta get ready,” Carolyn Martens told Global News.

“We had a house fire before and we lost everything before, so we wanna be prepared and we’d rather be prepared than not at all.”

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The BC Wildfire Service said the fire’s behaviour and the steep slope mean it’s too dangerous for firefighters to attack the blaze directly.

Ground crews are setting up control lines, while helicopters are looking for opportunities on the fire’s east flank to slow down growth.