Fire information officer Marg Drysdale said at a press conference Wednesday that crews were conducting controlled burns on the southeast flank of a fire burning southwest of Penticton, which the BC Wildfire Service said had grown by more than 50 percent Wednesday. That fire, the Keremeos Creek Fire, now covers about 42 square kilometers. An aerial burn was planned for the area as crews burned trees and brush near Highway 3A, which was briefly closed Tuesday as the flames approached. “It’s going to be very visible,” Drysdale said of the planned burn aimed at creating containment lines around the flames. Days of blistering heat and low humidity helped fuel the fire after the July 29 fire, but Drysdale said Wednesday’s winds were “not a big factor” and “pretty flat,” while the heat was “a few degrees cooler. ” at higher altitudes. Environment Canada has called for temperatures to drop nearly 10 degrees in the Penticton area from the low 30s recorded Wednesday to expected highs of no more than 23 degrees Thursday and Friday. The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen confirmed that 479 properties, including the village of Apex Resort west of Keremeos, remained evacuated, while residents of another 324 properties in the area were on evacuation alert. Two hundred and fifty-two firefighters were assigned to the fire, Drysdale said, supported by 10 helicopters and four pieces of heavy equipment, with additional heavy equipment to be made available in the coming days. The fire in the South Okanagan is among six now listed by the fire service as either highly visible or a threat to public safety, compared to two just called “splendid fires” a day earlier. The blazes recently identified as “fires of note” include a fire 10 square kilometers northwest of Cache Creek in the Kamloops fire center and another that had burned about two square kilometers northwest of Kamloops. There are also two in the Southeast Fire Center, one covering nearly 17 square kilometers between Castle and New Denver and the other south of Cranbrook, which ignited on August 1 and had burned five square kilometers by Wednesday. The fire service warned that activity at this suspected lightning-started fire was expected to intensify late in the day as winds picked up and a cold front moved in. Conair Group Inc. confirmed by email that one of its planes was involved in an emergency landing while battling the fire in the Cranbrook area on Tuesday. “We are pleased to report that following the emergency landing of our Fire Boss Airtanker yesterday, the pilot was able to remove the aircraft to a suitable helicopter landing site for a return flight to Cranbrook,” said Conair Communications Director Shannon De Wit. . Conair is working with the BC Wildfire Service, the Transportation Safety Board and Transport Canada on the investigation,” he said, and continues to provide conventional aerial firefighting to the fire service. The fire service said about three-quarters of BC’s active wildfires were caused by lightning, while 11% were linked to human activity. An unfit cabin was destroyed southwest of Penticton and several structures were lost in the early days of the fire west of Lytton, but there are no reports of losses related to other wildfires in BC. A map showing the various regional fire stations in British Columbia. (BC Wildfire Service)
The fires of BC
Across B.C., 154 new fires broke out last week — many of them sparked by thousands of lightning strikes over the weekend, according to the fire service’s dashboard. Almost half of the new fires were started in the Kamloops Fire Center area. Another major fire inside, the 37 square kilometer Nohomin Creek fire; north-west of Lytton, it is still growing ‘steadily’ on steep, rocky ground. Three other fires have been upgraded to wildfires meaning they are highly visible or pose a potential threat to public safety:
The Connell Ridge fire about 15 kilometers south of Cranbrook, about five square kilometers in size. Watching Creek erupts about 16 kilometers northwest of Kamloops, nearly two square kilometers in size. The Maria Creek fire about 30 kilometers northwest of Cache Creek, about 10 square kilometers in area. The Briggs Creek fire about 12 kilometers west of Kaslo, about 17 square kilometers in area.
