Hwy 4 on Vancouver Island closed again due to high winds, hours after partial re-opening
CBC
Residents cut off by the closure of a key Vancouver Island highway due to an ongoing wildfire experienced short-lived relief Friday afternoon as the route partially re-opened, only to close a few hours later due to high winds.
Highway 4 partially re-opened Friday afternoon with a single alternating lane of traffic, but was closed again shortly after 8 p.m. PT, according to a Friday evening Tweet by DriveBC.
The highway was closed since June 6 due to a two-square-kilometre wildfire east of the popular Cathedral Grove Park near Port Alberni.
The highway is expected to be closed at least over night due to high winds, which threaten the cranes that are suspending wire mesh to prevent debris from falling onto the road, according to a Friday evening statement from B.C.'s Ministry of Transportation.
The mesh must be removed and put back up once winds die down, which takes "several hours" and leaves the road vulnerable to falling trees and rocks in the meantime.
"While this temporary closure may be challenging, crews are ready to re-open the highway quickly as soon as it is safe to do so," read the statement.
In a statement Friday evening, B.C. Wildfire Service information Officer Jade Richardson said there had been no reports of a change in fire behaviour and the fire remained under control.
The mayor of one Vancouver Island town that lost its only paved road to the rest of the island for three weeks had earlier praised work crews for re-opening Highway 4 on Friday afternoon.
"I had my fingers crossed that would happen," Marilyn McEwen, mayor of Ucluelet, B.C., told CBC News after the re-opening around 3 p.m. Friday. "They worked really really hard to make it happen — we're just so pleased.
"Both Tofino and Ucluelet are pretty quiet without any visitors here. We're going to try to return to some sort of normalcy here."
Highway 4 is the only paved route to the 18,000-resident city of Port Alberni — as well as Tofino, Ucluelet and most communities in the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Nation.
"Our communities are thrilled to be able to welcome back visitors, see residents, be able to commute to work and know that the goods and materials we depend on are flowing more easily," said the area's MLA, Josie Osborne, in a statement Friday afternoon.
The province said it planned to partly re-open what Transportation Minister Rob Fleming called a "crucial route" around 3 p.m., allowing vehicles through in a single lane, alternating east and westbound traffic.
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