My Comox Valley Now Staff

The Wesley Ridge wildfire on the north side of Cameron Lake now covers more that five-hundred hectares in size and has been classified as a Wildfire of Note. The fire is now estimated at 511 hectares. The Regional District of Nanaimo has also expanded the area covered by its evacuation alert.

The Wesley Ridge wildfire continues to grow and has reached nearly five-hundred hectares. The BC Wildfire Service estimates 494 hectares of forest has been burned since the fire was first noticed on July 31.

The Regional District of Nanaimo is asking people to stay withing 100 metres of the shore if they are at Horne Lake. The lake is being used as a water source for firefighting efforts at Wesley Ridge. The fire near Cameron Lake has grown to more than 100 hectares and the BC Wildfire Service still considers it out of control.

The Vancouver Island Real Estate Board (VIREB) recorded ten per cent more sales in July compared to the same month last year. According to the most recent market report, there were 806 unit sales across all property types on the Island in July and year-over-year active listings were up one per cent, with 4,512 units listed. VIREB chair Olivier Naud says the island’s market is at the top end of balanced, with about six months of inventory.

The Tsunami Advisory issued yesterday evening by the US Tsunami Warning System for much of the BC Coast was cancelled Wednesday morning. The advisory followed an 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Russia and covered most of the BC coast and the northern and western coasts of Vancouver Island, Victoria and the Saanich Peninsula.

The staff of North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre at Parksville are mourning the loss of Blizzard, the Centre's white raven.

Heat warnings are in place for multiple parts of British Columbia, with temperatures expected to reach up to 37 degrees Celsius in some regions.

Comox Firefighters responded to a sailboat fire at the Comox Marina just after 5:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon. No one was injured, and the fire did not spread to other boats or areas of the marina.