Chetwynd, B.C. – The Mt. McAllister  wildfire  56 km  west of Chetwynd is now estimated to  20 thousand hectares in size,  that's double the estimated size from yesterday.

The District of Hudson's Hope has put an Evacuation Order in place for the entire municipality. ( see previous story)

The Mt. McAllister fire has been extremely active and volatile" says Jillian Kelsh, Information Officer with the Prince George Fire Centre " At this time it's not  safe to put fire fighters on the ground and we have no ability  to do any direct suppression based  on the  behaviour  of the fire."

The best that can be done is what  Kelsh calls indirect fire suppression,  meaning "We'll start  doing  some burn off procedures to try to create some larger fuel free areas in front of the fire so that  when it reaches that point it loses it's momentum."

Kelsh says this fire is spitting flames that  are  creating  spot fires as far as a kilometer  ahead of the fire line .

Hudson's Hope is directly threatened by this blaze and that is why the evacuation order has been  issued.

Kelsh says  the fire has gained momentum  because of the hot dry conditions "We're  seeing this kind of fire behaviour not only on this fire, but on  our Red Deer Creek Fire and other fires of note in the Prince George Fire Centre."

The Peace River Regional District has ordered an Evacuation Alert for residents in the community of Moberly Lake and surrounding area extending to the northernmost point of Boucher Lake Road, directly west to the Klin-Se-Za protected area, north along Carbon Creek to the southern edge of Williston Lake directly east to the boundary of Hudson's Hope.