Video captures terrifying drive on Coquihalla Highway as wildfire rages
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A wildfire burning out of control has once again closed the Coquihalla Highway from Hope to Merritt, B.C.
Andrea Chambers was on her way home on Wednesday and drove the Coquihalla before it was closed.
Video that she shared with Global News shows flames and dark smoke ahead of her, but as the drive continues, red and orange flames appear on both sides of the highway.
“Originally, when I saw the fire, it was up to the left,” Chambers told Global News.
“So I thought it was just up on the mountain, like on the hillside to the left, but then as I went further on the road, it ended up where it was actually right in front of me.”
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Chambers said it was surreal to see the flames on both sides of the highway.
“Just as I got closer, seeing how dark it got, it was just this blanket that went overhead and the smoke plumes were just rolling in on themselves,” she said.
“It looked like they were alive. And as I get closer, I’m like, we’re going through this. I didn’t realize that it was right in our path. So yeah, pretty scary.”
The Mine Creek wildfire was mapped at 1,900 hectares on Thursday morning and is considered out of control.
The road was closed for days in 2021 after a wildfire jumped the highway.
Chambers said there was no warning this time that the fire was so close to the highway.
“There was nothing and then all of a sudden it was right on top of us,” she said.
“The experience was very humbling,” she added.
“You kind of don’t realize the devastation and just the fierceness of the fires and how fast they can destroy so much. You realize that you are just this little tiny, little being in that big, huge fire.”
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