File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Sunny and Hot

Don’t look now — near-record heat in Kamloops has fire danger ratings on the rise

Sep 5, 2024 | 7:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — With the B.C. Interior flirting with record temperatures to end the week, the B.C. Wildfire Service is warning residents that the fire danger rating is on its way up again.

“Our fire danger rating (in the Kamloops Fire Centre) is currently moderate with some pockets of high,” Fire Information Officer Olive Norris-Leite told CFJC Today. “We have seen that warm and dry weather return and still some dry conditions out there.”

Kamloops saw its high temperature reach 33.1 Celsius at 5:00 p.m. Thursday, just two-tenths of a degree cooler than the historical record for Kamloops on September 5, set in 1955, according to Environment Canada.

The forecaster is predicting a high of 35 for Friday.

Norris-Leite says, on the positive side, days are much shorter in September than in the dead of summer, meaning daytime high temperatures don’t last very long before the air starts cooling down.

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There are eight fires currently active in the Kamloops zone. Norris-Leite says all eight are considered under control.

Heading into the weekend, some may take the opportunity to enjoy a campfire on a beautiful fall weekend. A campfire prohibition for the province was lifted last month.

Norris-Leite notes it’s important residents continue to employ safe campfire practices.

“That would look like having a campfire no larger than half-a-metre-by-half-a-metre, ensuring that campfire has a sufficient fuel break around it, having at least eight litres of water on hand and a campfire should never be left unattended,” she said.

Norris-Leite notes Category 2 and 3 fires are still prohibited.