Photo: CTV

A northern Vancouver Island village is on fire watch.

Residents of Zeballos are on evacuation alert as a wildfire burns on a steep mountainside within sight of homes.

Due to the terrain, firefighters are having difficulty fighting it.

“We have to unfortunately wait until that fire moves into a place we can fight it from, so while it’s still on the mountain and it’s backing down slowly, there’s not a lot we can do,” said Donna MacPherson with the BC Wildfire Service. “Once it gets into some workable ground we’ll be able to start working to put control lines and prevent it from moving any further.”

The Zeballos Fire Department has been soaking the forest and homes close to the slope with help from the BC Wildfire Service, and a helicopter is bucketing the blaze.

– with files from CTV Vancouver Island