Authorities are urging British Columbians to be aware of the risk of wildfires, even as the province’s largest fires remained stable overnight.
The most alarming fire in the district remains Forest fire in Keremeos Creek21 kilometers southwest of Penticton, in the southern interior.
This resulted in the release of 25 properties evacuation order and over 350 properties to let evacuation warning in the region. The “permanent” fire jumped a road overnight on Friday and subsequently nearly tripled in size on Saturday.
But on Sunday, the British Columbia Wildfire Service said this minimal growth is observed overnight. The fire is located near Penticton, which is 63 kilometers south of Kelowna.
The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen has issued a series of evacuation alerts and orders related to the Keremeos Creek fire southwest of Penticton. (Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen)
“There’s a bit of an inversion right now that’s keeping the smoke pretty low in the valley, which is preventing some of our aerial resources from working safely on the fire line,” Fire Information Officer Aidan Coray said Sunday morning.
“Once this inversion breaks and we get a little more visibility in the valley, we’ll have additional helicopters joining throughout the day.”
More than 40 firefighters are working on the blaze, which started on Friday. Coray said high temperatures will continue to be a challenge for firefighters on Sunday, although a gradual cooling trend is expected to begin early next week.
She said it was difficult to predict which way the fire might grow on Sunday.
Evacuation warnings issued by the Okanagan-Similkameen Regional District cover the nearby Apex Mountain Ski Resort, which is northwest of the fire.
James Schalman, the resort’s general manager, said people at the resort were “optimistic” about the fire’s behavior Sunday and that windy conditions meant smoke was not yet visible from the resort.
He said the resort has a wildfire plan that has been in place for more than 30 years and includes the use of snow machines to mitigate the fire.
“We are one of the few mountains that make snow from the top to the bottom of the mountain and during different runs,” he said. “What we’re doing is putting our snowmaking guns in strategic areas that could potentially help us if a fire comes our way, that’s another line of defense.”
A snow gun blows water over a structure near Apex Mountain Resort on Sunday as the resort prepares for the possible arrival of the nearby Keremeos Creek Wildfire. (Tom Popik/CBC)
He said about four staff members are working to put everything in place, with the resort ready to “flip the switch” if needed.
“Forest fires … are a threat and they are a danger,” he said. “It’s always first. And we’re always a little nervous and always grateful when we get to spend the summer without one.”
There are no campfire bans
The Nohomin Creek wildfire, about 1.7 kilometers northwest of Lytton, British Columbia, saw growth Saturday in high-elevation areas due to hot and dry conditions.
The bushfire service said helicopters had been battling the blaze steadily throughout the day, while rocky slopes and scarce fuel had slowed its spread in some areas.
Donna McPherson, fire information officer, said the service has adequate resources to fight wildfires in the province.
Despite the growth of the fire starts in a week extreme temperaturesMcPherson said the province is in much better shape than last year.
“We have about 440 [total] fires in the province – that’s about half of our 10-year average,” she said. “That’s a lot less than last year, which was almost 1,278 at the same time [as] this year.”
Despite the favorable comparison to last year’s devastating season, McPherson urged people in the province to be cautious.
There are no campfire bans in place in the province, although large open fires are prohibited. A small campfire means keeping a fire under half a meter in height and width and keeping water or a tool nearby to keep it under control.
“At the moment we do allow those types of fires, but they are very small, controlled campfires. I wouldn’t be surprised if that changes … though,” McPherson said. “Because we’ve had this period of very hot and dry weather, we expect we may have some [bans] come into place next week.”
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