By Greg Fry

Lightning sparks over 130 new wildfires in B.C.

Aug 1, 2018 | 10:39 AM

KAMLOOPS — The BC Wildfire Service is busy battling 132 new lightning-caused wildfires.

Fire Information Officer Ryan Turcot says that brings the total number of active wildfires in B.C. to 305.

He says the largest fire of note is the 6,155 hectare Snowy Mountain wildfire 14 kilometres south of Keremeos which has prompted an evacuation alert for over 800 homes.

Turcot says 22 of the new fire starts were in the Kamloops Fire Centre while the Cariboo Fire Centre had the most at just over 50.

He says many of the fires are still being mapped but says it’s safe to say most remain “spot fires at this time.” To his knowledge, Turcot says no structures have been lost.

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So, what’s the outlook?

“As the week moves on, cooler, unstable weather patterns. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword for us. We’ll see cooler temperature which is good news, but it also means more lightning in the forecast which could spark more fires as well as more aggressive winds.”

Turcot says the public could help matters by being extremely careful in the backcountry.

“The last thing we need is preventable human-caused fire starts diverting out resources away from unpreventable fires.”

by Greg Fry

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Lightning sparks over 130 new wildfires in B.C.

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