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By Victor Kaisar

Merritt Grassfire

Grassfire near Merritt being held at 51 hectares

Apr 27, 2025 | 1:20 PM

MERRITT — The BC Wildfire Service says a grassfire that is burning south of Douglas Lake is being held at 51 hectares in size.

Fire Information Officer Cassidy Martin told CFJC Today that five BC Wildfire Service personnel were tasked with actioning this fire east of Merritt Sunday (April 27). This particular blaze was discovered on Saturday.

“We have one initial attack crew out there today, which is four personnel, as well as a response officer,” Martin said. “They’re just working on actioning the south flank using hoselay and pushing it around.”

Martin said there are no structures in the vicinity of this blaze, which is suspected to be human caused.

“We haven’t had any lighting in the area, but being human caused can mean a number of different things,” she added.

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A much smaller grassfire located closer to the Okanagan Connector is also listed as being held at 0.6 hectares. It was also discovered on Saturday night, and is believed to be human-caused as well.

“Both these fires were displaying rank 1 and 2 behaviour so its a smouldering ground fire, not really visible open flame but it could put up a little bit of smoke,” Martin said. “That is normally what gets people’s attention.”

Location of the two grassfires near Merritt as of Sunday, April 27, morning. (Image Credit: BC Wildfire Service)