By James Peters

Smoke lingering in Kamloops visited Russia before returning to BC

Aug 30, 2017 | 10:53 AM

KAMLOOPS — Thick smoke has returned to the Thompson valleys, causing a return to breathing difficulties for those with respiratory sensitivity.

Fire Information Officer Claire Allen says the smoke originates from nearby fires, but took a meandering, circuitous route to get back to the Kamloops area.

“A lot of the smoke that has come back into the area actually originates from around August 12, when we saw a marked increase in fire behaviour, both on the Elephant Hill fire as well as the fires to the north of us and northwest into the Cariboo and Chilcotin regions,” said Allen.

“That was pushed up around the Arctic Circle, and actually circled around there into Russia and is being funnelled back this way. Just given the incredible fire season we’ve seen so far and really challenging conditions and very, very smoky conditions, it’s actually being recycled back our way.”

While the Okanagan is receiving smoke from fires south of the United States border, Allen says that doesn’t appear to be the case for the Kamloops region.

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“Definitely, some of that is coming from the Elephant Hill fire. It was quite smoky across many of the flanks of the fire yesterday,” said Allen. “Given the wind directions, that does get funnelled into the Kamloops area.”