Picture of the southeastern edge of the Ainslie Creek wildfire as of August 4, 2026/via BC Wildfire Service
An unexpected and somewhat troubling turn for part of a fire which did not appear to have been making much of an impact on the local area south of Merritt.
The TNRD, as of 9am Friday morning, issuing an evacuation order for 57 properties along the southeast portion of the Ainslie Creek wildfire.
This is the fire which — at one point — had been much more of a direct threat to homes much more closer to the Merritt area when 61 properties were put under an order in the Spius Creek area on July 25th.
However, officials with the TNRD have told RadioNL its the amount of growth seen on the lower finger of the Ainslie Creek blaze that has prompted the move.
Map of new evacuation order and alert area created by growth in the Ainslie Creek wildfire/via TNRD
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BC Wildfire did report growth of around 4 to 5 kilometers on the southeastern portion of the Ainslie Creek wildfire through Thursday, but had challenges in mapping the perimeter of the fire.
At the same time, the Thompson Nicola Regional District has also put nearly 800 properties under evacuation alert due to Ainslie Creek.
The same officials say this is due to growth seen on the northeastern edges of that fire.
The alert runs along an area from directly west of the evacuation order zone, then north through to the Highway 8 corridor which links Merritt and Spences Bridge.
Many of the 783 properties currently under the evacuation alert have been under that status since the original Evacuation Order around Spius Creek was issued July 25th.
