(image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

LANDSCAPE FIRES

KFR expects dry conditions to persists for several more weeks; campfires remain banned within city limits

Sep 29, 2025 | 4:48 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops Fire Rescue (KFR) has had a busy 24 hours, fighting a pair of landscape fires in the city.

On Sunday (Sept. 28) afternoon, multiple crews, including tenders and bush trucks, responded to the area around the Owl Road landfill near Juniper Ridge. Crews on the ground were reporting Rank 2 and 3 fire behavior as they began to fight the blaze. While they were able to extinguish the flames, the quick spread speaks to the conditions around Kamloops.

“People just need to be careful, continue to be conscious and continue to be fire safe,” said KFR Life Safety Educator Josh Cowen Monday. “We do have some dry material around and the forest floor can ignite quickly. We had some crews do some great work this weekend, both in Juniper and Guerin Creek. Those fires were pretty close to houses and the crews got on them quick.”

Cowen is expecting conditions to begin changing as the calendar switches to October.

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“It’s going to be two or three weeks, hopefully we get some good rains,” said Cowen. “If there is some dry days, wind, we are going to get those fires still. The last few fires have been human-caused.”

Early Monday (Sept. 29) morning, witnesses on social media reported the fire upslope from the Victoria Street West and Mission Flats Road intersection. Again, KFR was able to knock down the blaze before it reached any homes.

The two fires both came less than 24 hours before the BC Wildfire Service rescinded the campfire ban in the area on Monday.

“Seven days a week, 365 we are not allowed campfires, any kind of fires within city limits,” stated Cowen. “I know that Kamloops Fire Centre has taken their ban off, so people are allowed campfires now, but within city limits, no campfires. And that is way it’s always been and will continue to be.”