Thousands of people who are out in the Rocky Mountains are now taking a much longer route home after smoke from a pair of major wildfires forced the closure of Highway 93.

Parks Canada says firefighters are managing a number of fires burning in the southeastern B.C. region in Kootenay and Banff National Parks.

The smoke from those fires have not only forced the closure of the highway between Radium and the Alberta boundary, but also led to a number of evacuation alerts in several communities in the B.C. interior.

Two of the fires in Kootenay are contained at this time and forest conditions have resulted in the flames spreading very quickly, forcing them to take action.

“In order to ensure the safety of the public and travelling motorists, we had to close Highway 93 south and we’ve also put in place some closures, trail closures and closures of Kootenay Park Lodge that’s in the vicinity of the fire,” said Jed Cochrane, a spokesperson with Parks Canada.

Cochrane says both fires are close to one another and they are monitoring both of them.

“[Incident management teams are] actively working on a plan, that plan is to bring those fires to containment as fast as possible.”

The highway closure has resulted in forced detours for thousands of drivers, including a pair of travelers heading home to Montana.

“We are heading home, which is by Glacier National Park, in Kalispell. Unfortunately, after three nights of camping, we have to take a longer route because the short one is closed. Hopefully still we’ll get home tonight to a warm bed and a warm shower.”

Another man, who has been on a very long bicycle trek from Anchorage, Alaska says that he was told that he could wait to see if traffic would change as the hours pass.

“I was flying down the road and it was a nice decline to get here and as soon as I did, I found out that the road was closed, Highway 93 was closed. I was giving the option of waiting until they reopened on taking an alternate detour that would probably add two days to my ride,” said Joe Gallagher.

He says that officials told him they were confident the fire would be contained.

Meanwhile, Cochrane says that the road will remain closed while there remains a risk to public safety.

“As soon as it’s safe for traffic to travel through, we’ll open the highway.”

Authorities say that there are currently 10 significant fires burning in B.C. and has recorded over 1,000 fires since April 1.

(With files from the Canadian Press)