Three different fires on Vancouver Island forced road closures on and around Highway 1 Thursday afternoon.
According to Drive BC, a structure fire on Cedar Rd. in Nanaimo closed one Northbound lane as crews responded to the blaze around 1 p.m.
#BCHwy1 – Structural fire northbound at Cedar Rd in #Nanaimo. Crews are on scene. The northbound right lane is blocked. Please drive with care and watch for crews. More information here: https://t.co/xiqo3GEgga pic.twitter.com/ZlluTscSTv
— DriveBC (@DriveBC) September 10, 2020
Further south on the Island, Emcon Services Inc. reported that two forest fires burning in the South Shawnigan area had forced a road closure, leaving Shawnigan Road completely inaccessible off of Highway 1.
Road closure #southshawnigan due to 2 forest fires. Traffic cannot access south shawnigan road off #BCHwy1 at this time @malahatdrive @malahatfire #yyjtraffic #westshore #goldstream pic.twitter.com/l81UHjLwP8
— Emcon Services Inc., South Island Division (@EmconSouthVI) September 10, 2020
In a tweet just before 2 p.m., Emcon added that crews from Malahat Volunteer Fire Department were working to contain the brush fires.
They did not yet have an estimate on when the road would reopen, and advised drivers to use alternate routes to access the area.
The brush fires are being managed due to the quick response by @malahatfire 🙏 We do not yet have a time of road reopening, please use an alternate route to access the area.
— Emcon Services Inc., South Island Division (@EmconSouthVI) September 10, 2020
