A fast-moving wildfire has now torched at least 150 hectares in an area southwest of Lytton in the Fraser Canyon, on the more isolated west side of the Fraser River.

The now-named Cantilever Bar fire began in the mid-afternoon Monday, scorching a wide swath of territory within a few hours.

Pegged at 150 hectares as of 10pm on Monday night, the fire itself does appear to be burning west toward the interior of the isolated area.

“It depends on the winds,” said TNRD Director for the Lytton Area, Tricia Thorpe, in conversation with Radio NL on Monday evening, shortly after the evacuation alert was issued.

While fire itself has been burning with ferocity since it caught hold sometime in the afternoon, Thorpe — whose home is about 15 kilometers away — says a similar blaze a decade earlier might actually provide some relief.

“There’s a burn scar from a 2015.  When I looked at the fire tonight, it was headed toward the burn scar,” noted Thorpe.

The speed at which the fire is burning has prompted both the Lytton First Nation and the Thompson Nicola Regional District to issue evacuation alerts for the homes directly north of the fire.

It’s not clear how many LFN properties are affected by the new alert.

Five properties administered by the TNRD along the same stretch from the starting point of the fire to the Lytton Ferry terminus have been given the heads-up to leave at a moment’s notice as well.

“Oh, they’re all our community for heaven’s sakes,” exclaimed Thorpe when asked about the jurisdictional challenges in dealing with an emergency situation in the area.

“It doesn’t matter whether they’re TNRD, whether they were First Nations or whether they were Village [of Lytton] …that’s irrelevant.  They’re all community,” noted Thorpe.

The fire itself started just south of the southern Canadian National train bridge connecting the train tracks to the west side of the Fraser River.

That bridge is located about 15 kilometers south of Lytton where the CN and CP lines first make their respective departures heading north toward the Village of Lytton.

This is a somewhat bizarre route for Canadian National, as trains — including the Rocky Mountaineer and VIA Rail which use that line — find themselves crossing back to the east side of the Fraser River just 5 kilometers to the north at a 2nd bridge — what’s known locally as the CN Pedestrian Bridge.

That bridge is a secondary lifeline for Lytton area residents on the ‘west side,’ particularly if the Lytton Ferry falls out of service.

CN constructed it with a protected pedestrian pathway along its south side, which allows locals to cross over without the need of the ferry or a vehicle.

Not only struck by a wildfire 10 years ago leaving the burn scar, that area was also inundated by the atmospheric river events over three years ago, which has left the ‘west side’ area additionally vulnerable.

“In [November] 2021 when we had the atmospheric river, there used to be an egress route that went south and came out at North Bend,” noted Thorpe.

“That was washed out in ’21.  And if I have it right, the fire is just on the other side of that washout, so it means that wildfire crews may have some difficulty accessing the fire point,” added Thorpe.

While the fire got going next to the southern CN crossing, Thorpe says it’s too early to suggest the fire was set off by a train itself, saying local reports have suggested the fire may have emerged from next to the Fraser River and found its way up the embankments.

It is listed as “human caused” by the BC Wildfire Service and represents the latest firefighting effort in the region this month.

Crews just got the Izman Creek wildfire north of Lytton under control a couple of weeks ago, after it broke out on Canada Day.

Lytton, like Kamloops and many other parts of the Southern Interior, is going to be under a high heat alert through Wednesday, with temperatures in the Fraser Canyon area expected to peak at close to 40 degrees Tuesday and Wednesday.