By Canadian Press

White Rock Lake wildfire pushes toward Okanagan Lake in B.C. Interior: Fire service

Aug 7, 2021 | 12:34 PM

VERNON, B.C. — British Columbia’s wildfire service says an aggressive fire that’s forced thousands out of their homes around a stretch of now-closed Highway 97 in the southern Interior has grown to an estimated 550-square kilometres in size.

An update posted to the service’s website on Saturday says “high spread rates and active fire behaviour” were still expected in areas where sustained winds aligned with certain terrain at the White Rock Lake fire burning between Kamloops and Vernon.

The service says the most growth in the last day was along the eastern flank of the fire, which is highly visible to surrounding communities, and in some areas it’s burning just 100 to 250 metres from the western banks of Okanagan Lake. 

It says south and southwesterly winds with gusts up to 40 km/h were expected on Saturday with isolated showers bringing a “slight reprieve” through the weekend before hot and dry conditions are forecast to return on Monday. 

The White Rock Lake fire has been burning for three weeks and jumped Highway 97 about 40 kilometres southeast of Kamloops on Thursday night before sweeping through Monte Lake, a recreational community with a provincial park nearby.

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A map from the Thompson-Nicola Regional District shows evacuation orders and alerts stretching from several neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Kamloops near the fire’s western flank to Chase in the north and Vernon and Enderby to the east. 

An order issued by the Regional District of Central Okanagan covers more than 2,100 properties along the west side of Okanagan Lake, north of West Kelowna, while residents of more than 800 other properties must be ready to leave on short notice.  

People who were evacuated Friday night from an area between Ewings Landing and La Casa cottages were offered a three-hour window on Saturday to return and retrieve vehicles and other essential items, the regional district said in a statement.

About 290 wildfires are currently burning across B.C. out of a total 1,425 fires sparked since April 1, scorching nearly 6,100 square kilometres. Thirty active blazes are considered either highly visible or pose a potential threat to public safety. 

Sixty-seven evacuation orders covered 5,650 properties as of the province’s latest update, while residents of nearly 25,000 other properties are on alert due to wildfire.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 7, 2021. 

The Canadian Press