The Keremeos Creek wildfire burns north of Keremeos, British Columbia, on July 29.HO/The Canadian Press
Hundreds of Interior BC residents were under evacuation alert over the weekend as two wildfires in the province grew after a week of dry conditions during a heat wave in Western Canada.
The Keremeos Creek fire was first discovered on Friday about 23 kilometers south of Penticton in the Okanagan Valley. More than 300 properties were under an evacuation alert as of Sunday afternoon and 25 households were under an evacuation order that was being assisted by the RCMP.
Meanwhile, a large wildfire continued to burn near Lytton, a British Columbia town east of Vancouver that was almost completely destroyed by fire in 2021. Fortunately, most of the fire activity was taking place away from the town.
The British Columbia Wildfire Service (BCWS) said the Keremeos fire had grown to more than four square kilometers after “aggressive and erratic fire behavior” on Saturday, aided by high temperatures in the area that reached 40 degrees in last days. There was minimal growth Saturday night, but BCWS spokeswoman Melanie Bibeau said Sunday morning that conditions indicated the fire would intensify as temperatures rose throughout the day.
British Columbia’s wildfire season got off to a slow start in the southern half of the province thanks to cold temperatures, rainy weather and heavy snowpack in the late spring and early summer. However, Ms Bibeau said residents should be prepared now that persistent dry and hot conditions across the province have led to increased fire risk.
Forty BCWS members were battling the Keremeos Creek fire on Sunday, with a helicopter assisting ground crews. The service said the heavy smoke prevented the use of three other helicopters and the terrain was not currently suitable for an air tanker to fight the wildfire.
Meanwhile, the fire near Lytton, called the Nohomin Creek Fire, has been burning since July 14 and is now estimated to be more than 18 square miles. The fire threatened communities on the west side of the Fraser River, which is opposite the main town of Lytton on the east bank.
However, BCWS spokeswoman Carly Derosiers said most of the activity is now taking place on the northwest edge of the fire, meaning it’s moving away from areas where people live and toward the south and east edges of the fire.
The Thompson Nicola Regional District and Lytton First Nation lifted evacuation orders for some properties, but still instructed residents near the fire to be prepared to evacuate if the situation changes. Approximately thirty other addresses in the Lytton area remained under evacuation orders.
Eighty-nine firefighters and 11 helicopters were working to contain the blaze on Sunday. Crews were working to extinguish the remaining hot spots on the eastern side of the fire.
High temperatures are expected to persist across the Okanagan Valley, with highs in or above 30 degrees forecast for most of next week in both Penticton and Lytton.
Ms Desrosiers said those temperatures would at least be cooler than the previous week in Lytton, when high temperatures of 40 degrees forced crews to take 15- or 20-minute breaks every hour to stay hydrated and avoid heat exhaustion .
“Once we get to 40 degrees, it becomes a health and safety issue,” said Ms Desrosiers, who said those temperatures were conducive to fire growth and created a difficult environment for firefighters to work in.
Daniel Mundall, who lives in the Lytton area and had his store and barn burned last year in the Nohomin Creek fire, said people were able to breathe a little easier as the fire moved north.
“There’s always the potential for something to catch fire and there are still things smoldering here and there, but it’s definitely calmed down here a bit compared to what it was,” said Mr Mandal, who was already working to restore parts of his property that burned.
“We’re going to start cleaning here; we have an excavator. We don’t waste time or wait for help, it’s about going and making things happen.”
Elsewhere, a large fire in northern Manitoba continues to burn, but the province’s wildfire service said favorable weather conditions are reducing the risk to a nearby First Nation. The Mathias Colomb Cree Nation has been evacuated for weeks because of its proximity to the fire, which is estimated to be larger than 500 square kilometers. A further 42 bushfires were burning across the province, but the bushfire service said no other fires posed a threat to communities.
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