By Chad Klassen

Rain coming, not enough to make dent in Elephant Hill wildfire

Aug 11, 2017 | 6:35 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Elephant Hill wildfire continues to burn in three regional districts in the B.C. Interior, feeding on the dry conditions, and is still mapped at more than 117,000 hectares

Three more evacuation orders were issed in the Cariboo on Friday. The Elephant Hill fire is burning in all directions at this time, impacting three regional districts: the Thompson-Nicola, Cariboo, and Squamish-Lillooet regional districts.

It’s also encroaching on highway one and the Skeetchestn Indian Band, and there is fear the wind patterns will switch and move the fire further south towards Deadman’s Valley.

“We have about 450 firefighters working on that fire right now and they are still working on planning those ignitions, which may take place south of Young Lake. But they will certainly not take place until the conditions are correct,” said fire information officer Max Birkner. “Although the fire has grown a little bit, it does still remain at 30 per cent containment. So they are making good progress, but it is certainly a very large fire, and there are patterns that continue to challenge firefighters.”

The long-awaited rain will come this weekend, but the Kamloops Fire Centre says it won’t be nearly enough to make a dent on the fire.

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“In the northern and eastern parts of the Kamloops Fire Centre, we are expecting a little bit of rain this weekend,” Birkner noted. “It’s going to be around 10 milimetres of rain, so that may help our efforts a little bit. That said, it’s probably not enough to have a significant impact on the fire season.”