Crews are literally fighting fire with fire in the South Okanagan as BC’s wildfire service takes advantage of cooler weather to try to contain a fire that has forced hundreds from their homes.
Fire information officer Marg Drysdale said at a news conference Wednesday that crews were conducting controlled burns on the southeast flank of a wildfire burning southwest of Penticton that the Fire Service BC wildfires says it grew by more than 50 percent Wednesday.
That fire, the Keremeos Creek Wildfire, now covers an estimated 42 square kilometers.
Aerial ignition was planned for the region as crews burned trees and brush not far from 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 scorching heat and low humidity helped fuel the wildfire after it broke out on July 29, but Drysdale said Wednesday’s winds were “not very telling” and “pretty flat”, while the heat was “a couple of degrees cooler,” at higher elevations.
Environment Canada was calling for temperatures to drop nearly 10 degrees in the Penticton area from Wednesday’s low of 30 degrees to expected highs of no more than 23 degrees on Thursday and Friday.
The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen confirmed that 479 properties, including the Apex Resort village 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 wildfire, Drysdale said, supported by 10 helicopters and four pieces of heavy equipment, with additional heavy equipment to be assigned in the coming days.
The South Okanagan fire is among six the wildfire service now classifies as highly visible or a threat to public safety, up from just two so-called “prominent wildfires” a day earlier.
The fires recently identified as “highlight fires” include a 10 square kilometer fire northwest of Cache Creek in the Kamloops Fire Center and another that had burned approximately two square kilometers northwest of Kamloops.
There are also two in the Southeast Fire Center, one covering about 17 square kilometers between Kaslo and New Denver and the other south of Cranbrook, which was sparked on Aug. 1 and Wednesday had burned five square kilometers.
The wildfire service warned that activity in that suspected lightning-spark fire was expected to peak in the afternoon as winds picked up and a cold front moved in.
Conair Group Inc. confirmed by email that one of its planes was involved in a forced landing while battling the Cranbrook-area wildfire on Tuesday.
“We are pleased to report that following the emergency landing of our Airtanker yesterday, the pilot was able to maneuver the aircraft away to a suitable helicopter landing site for a return flight to Cranbrook” , said Shannon De Wit, director of communications for Conair. .
Conair is working with the BC Wildfire Service, the Transportation Safety Board and Transport Canada on the investigation,” he said, and continues to provide contracted aerial firefighting services to the wildfire service.
The wildfire service said about three-quarters of BC’s active wildfires were caused by lightning, while 11% are related to human activity.
An unoccupied cabin southwest of Penticton has been destroyed and numerous structures were lost in the early days of the wildfire west of Lytton, but there are no reports of losses related to other wildfires in BC.
A map showing the different regional fire stations in British Columbia. (BC Wildfire Service)
Of note are the BC wildfires
Across B.C., 154 new wildfires broke out last week, many of which sparked thousands of lightning strikes over the weekend, according to the wildfire service panel. Almost half of the new fires started in the Kamloops Fire Center region.
Another major fire inside, the 37 square kilometer Nohomin Creek fire north-west of Lytton, it continues to grow “steadily” on steep, stony ground.
Three other fires have been upgraded to featured fires, 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.
- The Watching Creek fire 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 size.
- The Briggs Creek fire about 12 kilometers west of Kaslo, about 17 square kilometers in size.