KAMLOOPS — The 545-hectare East Shuswap Road wildfire is no longer posing a threat in Kamloops.
It was just eight days ago that the blaze broke out, forcing the evacuation of six homes and putting all residences in Sun Rivers under alert.
Kevin Skrepnek, chief fire information officer with the BC Wildfire Service, says the fire is now “very much under control” and “nothing of concern” after this morning’s rain event.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for people living south of Kelowna.
“Certainly, the Okanagan corridor is our area of most concern right now — particularly from Kelowna down to Penticton,” Skrepnek says. “We’ve got over a dozen fires burning there right now. A few of them are turning into some pretty major events. Of course, there are evacuation alerts and orders in place from a number of local governments down there.”
To make matters worse, he says the southern Interior may not see the rain Kamloops saw today.
“They may not get that rain at all and unfortunately we are expecting the winds to be a challenge again today,” Skrepnek says.
Province-wide, he says there are 123 fires currently burning, 39 of them in the Kamloops Fire Centre, though he says the situation is changing “by the minute.”
Since April 1, he says there have been 750 fire starts — about average for this time of year.
Interestingly, Skrepnek says about 54,000 hectares of forest has been burned so far. That’s far below the 10 year average for this date which Skrepnek says “would be well over 100,000 hectares.”
