Image credit: BC Wildfire Service

By Aaron Schulze

Wildfire Watch

Wednesday’s lightning strikes only leave few new wildfires in Kamloops Fire Centre

Jul 13, 2023 | 11:09 AM

KAMLOOPS — The Kamloops Fire Centre (KFC) was struck with thousands of lightning strikes Wednesday (July 12), but initial returns haven’t been as costly.

Aydan Coray, BC Wildfire Service information officer, says the KFC received nearly 2,227 lightning strikes. However, only 12 new wildfires have been reported for Thursday, with seven of those suspected to be caused by lightning.

Among the 12 new wildfires is a trio north of Paul Lake, with one of them estimated to be 10 hectares in size.

“We have our personnel out on all three fires. They just got out there not too long ago,” Coray says. “They are still active out of control wildfires. We did have air tankers in the area for all three of those fires, which were probably very visible to people in the area. I’m not sure if we’ll have tankers out again, they are on standby as needed.”

Coray says the wildfire service has crews and equipment stationed around the KFC in response to new starts, which will continue through the weekend amid warmer conditions.

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Further north, Coray says the wildfire service is still coordinating with BC Parks regarding the three larger wildfires in Wells Gray Provincial Park.

“[The fires] are very close together,” Coray says. “We’re evaluating if they’ve merged and if those would be considered one fire or two fires at any point.”

Meantime, the Thompson Nicola Regional District is telling travellers in the Wells Gray Country to be aware of several closures due to wildfire activity near Kostal Lake in the provincial park.