‘No cause for concern,’ city says, as smoke from Boston Bar-area wildfire drifts into Kamloops

The City of Kamloops says in the event of an emergency in the local area, it will use Voyent Alert to alert residents.

The Boston Bar fire department is responding to the Brunswick Creek fire as is the BC Wildfire Service, which has dispatched three initial attack crews, two unit crews, and two response officers. Aerial resources – including two groups of helicopters with night vision – and heavy equipment is also responding.

“Our aviation support made good progress overnight bucketing at the head of the fire and continue to support our ground crews today,” the BC Wildfire Service added. “Crews today are working along the north and south flanks of the fire, with heavy equipment working on guard to the west of the fire.”

The BC Wildfire Service said fire behaviour increased from the previous rank 1-2 (a low smouldering ground fire, to a low-vigour surface fire) to rank 3-4 (highly vigorous surface fire with torching or passive crown fire) because of strong downslope wind gusts of 40-50 km/h

“These winds pose a risk to responder safety,” BC Wildfire Service said. “The winds have resulted in several spot fires to the North of this incident which BC Wildfire Service is also responding to.”

Those fires – North Ainsley, South Ainsley 1 and South Ainsley 2 – are currently burning east of the Trans-Canada Highway between Boston Bar and Boothroyd.

“Aviation has been limited at times due to weather and terrain,” the BC Wildfire Service added. “Smoke has been highly visible to the public in the vicinity of Highway 1, including into the Kamloops Fire Centre and Merritt.”

The suspected human-caused fire is located west of the Canadian Pacific rail line. While Chaumox Road has been closed, the fire is not expected to impact the Trans-Canada Highway, which is on the opposite bank of the Fraser River.

Numerous other fires also burning

Further north, the 100 hectare Big Bar Creek wildfire is burning out of control in steep and rocky terrain approximately 1.5 kilometres west of the Fraser River. A cause is not currently known, but an initial attack crew and a response officer have been dispatched.

This fire is mainly burning Rank 2 and Rank 3, meaning a low to moderately vigorous surface fire.

“Increased smoke is likely to be observed due to elevated winds and warm conditions,” the BC Wildfire Service added.

Firefighters are also keeping watch on the 50 hectare lightning-caused Riley Creek fire south of Lillooet, which has been burning for the past week. As well, the 663 hectare Saw Creek fire near Lytton is also still burning, but that human-caused fire has been listed as under control since June 23.

East of Merritt, a 0.15 hectare human-caused wildfire near Spahomin Lake that also sparked Saturday is currently listed as held.

A 64 hectare fire near the Ferrabee Tunnel on the Trans-Canada Highway is also currently classified as under control. Suppression efforts have been effective, and the BC Wildfire Service expects this human-caused fire to remain within its current perimeter.

by Victor Kaisar

‘No cause for concern,’ city says, as smoke from Boston Bar-area wildfire drifts into Kamloops

Numerous other fires also burning

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