The 60-hectare Texas Creek wildfire, nearly 27 kilometres south of Lillooet, is suspected to be caused by lightning (Image credit: BC Wildfire Service).

By Aaron Schulze

Wildfire Watch

Kamloops Fire Centre bombarded with hundreds of lightning strikes, expects the trend to continue

Jul 10, 2023 | 10:00 AM

KAMLOOPS — The Kamloops Fire Centre (KFC) took a thunderous beating from lightning strikes over the weekend.

Taylor Shantz, BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) fire information officer, says the KFC saw 220 lightning strikes on Sunday (July 9) alone and 384 over the weekend. There were 43 new wildfire starts over the weekend.

As of Monday morning, there are 31 active wildfires within the KFC: eight are under control, 10 are being held and 13 are out of control.

The most notable is the 60-hectare Texas Creek wildfire nearly 27 kilometres south of Lillooet. In a post to social media, the BCWS says the fire is burning in steep, remote terrain and smoke is highly visible from Lillooet, Lytton and Highway 12.

Due to the Texas Creek wildfire’s location, and how aggressively it’s burning, Shantz says there isn’t much BCWS crews are currently able to do.

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“BCWS is working with local First Nations and other communities to ensure there aren’t any values in the area that need to be protected,” Shantz told CFJC Today. “Should there be, then we would look to action those. As far as how this fire will be actioned going forward, it’s still an evolving situation. It’s a relatively new start.”

Further north, a quarter of new wildfires ignited in Wells Gray Provincial Park Sunday. Three of the starts are spot fires, while the Pillpill Range wildfire is measured at 60 hectares.

Because those fires are located within a provincial park, Shantz says BCWS is deferring to BC Parks – the provincial agency that manages all of B.C.’s provincial parks – on how to address and manage those wildfires.

“The response within a park is different than what you would see on a land base as we don’t want to damage the park or make alterations that we might do when fighting fire on other land bases,” Shantz says.

Shantz says the BCWS expects the thunderstorm trend to continue Monday and Tuesday with additional lightning strikes, scattered thunderstorms and rainfall. She adds while the rain is helpful, there is still the potential for holdover fires and fire risks from the lightning strikes.