Truck blaze along in B.C.’s Coquihalla Highway sets off wildfire, closes route

MERRITT, BRITISH COLUMBIA — The main highway linking British Columbia’s Lower Mainland to the Interior has been closed in both directions after a large fire in a semi-trailer set the forest alight.

RCMP say officers were called to the site in the northbound lanes of the Coquihalla Highway between Merritt and Hope just after 9 p.m. Monday.

Police say arriving officers found a fully engulfed trailer on the highway’s right shoulder, which then spread to start a wildfire.

The BC Wildfire Service was called in to stamp out the blaze, but the Coquihalla Highway remains closed for safety concerns.