Photo: BCWS
BCWS crews tackled the Keremeos Creek fire on Saturday
UPDATE: 8:37 p.m
The Kamloops Fire Center says a crew of 10 will continue to battle the Keremeos Creek fire overnight.
Currently, the forest fire has an area of about 437 hectares.
This wildfire is in terrain inoperable for tanker and heavy machinery support, although these resources remain available on standby as the incident evolves.
Castanet News will be on top of the story with an update early in the morning.
UPDATE 5:58 p.m
The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen Emergency Operations Center has issued an evacuation alert for more than 350 properties.
The alert has been issued throughout Apex Mountain Village and the surrounding area.
“An evacuation alert has been issued to prepare you to evacuate your premises or property if deemed necessary. Residents will be notified as far in advance as possible prior to evacuation; however, you may receive a limited notice due to changing conditions,” he said. RDOS said.
A map and full list of affected addresses can be found here and a map can be viewed below.
For those under evacuation orders, here is a map and list of addresses.
A closer aerial scan of the Keremeos Creek wildfire near Apex showed the fire is estimated to be about 440 hectares, according to the BC Wildfire Service.
“That growth that we’ve seen throughout today was due to some pretty aggressive fire behavior out there. It’s expected to continue through tonight. We’re hoping that overnight when things cool down a bit , activity should be lower,” said fire information officer Aydan. Coray.
With warm and dry conditions over the next few days, however, BCWS expects increased fire activity to continue.
Fifty BCWS personnel are now on site, including structural protection and paratrooper personnel, in addition to ground crews.
“The paratroopers arrived around noon today and deployed from the air. They may have been seen by some people in the area jumping out of a plane,” Coray said.
They are being supported by three helicopters with local fire departments, apparatus and personnel from the surrounding area.
BCWS said this wildfire remains highly visible to Penticton and surrounding communities. Highway 3A remains open at this time, but travelers should continue to check DriveBC for updates.
Photo: contributed
UPDATE 5 p.m
Four more properties have been ordered to evacuate by the Okanagan-Similkameen Regional District Saturday afternoon near Green Mountain Road, in the vicinity of Ford Lake and at the north end of Sheep Creek Road due to the fire forester of Keremeos Creek.
A full list and map of properties affected by the alert and evacuation order is available on the RDOS website.
The Evacuation Order is in effect for the following areas:
- Green Mountain Road between Highway 3A on the south and Apex Mountain Road on the north and in the general vicinity of Ford Lake;
- and the north end of Sheep Creek Road, as shown on the map.
For properties under an evacuation order, the RDOS said members of the RCMP and other agencies under the direction of the RCMP will expedite evacuations.
Visit the RDOS EOC website for resource links and information updates here.
A map of the affected properties can be found below.
Photo: contributed
Photo: THINK
PENSAR evacuated residents early Saturday morning
UPDATE 3 p.m
The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen has confirmed that a structure has been lost to the Keremeos Creek wildfire.
An update from emergency officials Saturday afternoon revealed that the structure is believed to be a small residential building that was last seen still smoking. No further details are available about the building.
Residents are asked to be aware of changing fire conditions, while evacuation orders and alerts remain in place around the Ford Lake area southeast of Apex Mountain. The RDOS says there is no word at this time if the evacuations will be canceled or extended.
Penticton Search and Rescue was called out early Saturday morning to assist the RCMP and RDOS in issuing evacuation orders and alerts around the fire. Fourteen volunteer members came forward to help alert local residents, working past 4am
Kaitlin Baskerville, Kamloops fire station manager, said when the fire was initially reported Friday afternoon, ground personnel and three helicopters immediately began shooting at the fire.
“We also sent air tanker support, but due to the challenges of the terrain, the air tankers could not immediately act against the fire,” he said.
BCWS continued to attack the fire overnight.
There are currently 18 people responding, with four helicopters, a structural protection unit and multiple fire departments with apparatus in use. There is an additional crew of 20 en route.
Penticton Fire Chief Larry Watkinson tweeted Saturday that fire departments across the South Okanagan assisted with structural protection Friday night.
“It was complicated fire behavior last night, but we did a good job and protected a lot of homes from the fire.” he said
A BC Wildfire Service incident management team has been deployed and is en route and will take command of the fire Sunday morning.
Baskerville says the fire was last estimated at 150 acres this morning, but that number is likely to grow.
“We were witnessing quite aggressive fire behavior and we can assume that estimate is now between 200 and 300 hectares,” he said, adding that smoky conditions prevented measurements.
The cause of the fire is unknown.
BCWS says they are well equipped to deal with the fire.
“Unlike last season, we are not short on resources and we are currently mobilizing every available resource that we have not only within the Kamloops Fire Centre, but also provincially, to act on this fire,” Baskerville said.
He said fire crews spent the last week preparing in anticipation of the heat wave and increased fire activity.
“In terms of predictions going forward, we’re looking at our warm and dry conditions for at least the next 24 to 48 hours with the expectation that things will cool off on Monday and Tuesday. Which will be a nice break for the work we have to do and will give us the opportunity to overcome this fire like the others.
DriveBC reports that Green Mountain Road is closed due to the fire between Apex Mountain Road and Highway 3A. There is no detour available.
Officials are asking people to stay away from the fire zone and not to fly drones, which will ground all air support if they are in the area.
South Okanagan FDs met and formed a task force to support BCWS with structure protection operations last night and going forward. It was complicated fire behavior last night, but we did a good job and protected many homes from the fire. pic.twitter.com/h0eHGOPYsJ
— Penticton Fire Chief (@pentictonfire) July 30, 2022
Contributed
UPDATE 13:52
The RDOS provides an additional update on the Keremeos Creek wildfire at 2 p.m
Watch the live stream above.
UPDATE 12:45 p.m
The BC Fire Service expects that as the heat increases throughout the day, fire behavior will likely increase in the Keremeos Creek Wildfire near Apex.
Ground and structure protection personnel were on site overnight.
There are now 10 BCWS personnel, personnel from multiple structures and various fire department resources attacking the fire.
Fire Information Officer Melanie Bibeau said an estimated 40 additional resources will arrive over the weekend.
“We have an incident management team that will be taking over the fire management of the bushfire over the long weekend,” he said. “We also currently have a jump ship that is now also on site with air strike crews and that makes up eight additional personnel.”
The Okanagan-Similkameen Regional District Emergency Operations Center was activated last night and issued evacuation orders along with alerts for the area. These remain in place and can be found online here.
RDOS operations are supported in-place.
The RDOS will host a live video on Saturday at 2 p.m. Castanet will host it live.
UPDATE 9:25 a.m
The Keremeos Creek wildfire near Apex has grown overnight.
The BC Wildfire Service estimates the fire to be 150 hectares, up from 100 yesterday. “Overnight, the wildfire jumped the Green Mountain Road to the east. The growth in size reflects this overnight fire behavior,” the BCWS said on its website. “Ground and structure protection personnel remained on site overnight.”
There are currently 10 BCWS personnel, two helicopters, structural protection personnel and several fire appliances on site this morning.
Additional helicopters, ground crews and support personnel are en route and will arrive throughout the day. This wildfire is in terrain inoperable for tanker and heavy machinery support at this time. Tanker support remains available on standby as the incident evolves. An Incident Management Team has been activated for this fire and will take over the management of the fire in the coming days.
All evacuation orders and notices remain in effect.
ORIGINAL 5:15 a.m
Additional resources are en route to a wildfire burning southeast of Apex Mountain.
The Keremeos Creek Wildfire broke out Friday evening, forcing the evacuation of 21 properties along Green Mountain Road near Ford Lake. Another 25 properties were put on alert.
In the last update on Friday night, the fire was 100 hectares in size and showing “aggressive” behaviour.
The fire is burning in mountainous terrain that is inoperable for heavy machinery or tankers. The helicopters fired until dark on Friday and will return to the…