KAMLOOPS — It might be a good day to stay indoors if you’re bothered by smoke.
The smoke is laying heavy over the city this morning and it isn’t going away for a bit yet.
It’s coming from a variety of fires throughout the province, and from some south of the border as well.
People whose breathing is compromised by the smoke should stay indoors, and even healthy people should limit exercise if the smoke starts to cause problems.
Both the Environment Canada ranking and the Purple Air index are in sync today. The EC index is at 10, as high as it goes, while the Purple Air index reports levels in the high 200’s and one in the 300’s in the City this morning. None of that is good.
Over 140 new fires have been created by lightning over the past 2 days.
Two fires in the south Cariboo are 30 percent contained, and haven’t grown much over the past couple of days.
The Twin Creek fire near 70 Mile is still at 524 hectares, while the Wild Goose Lake blaze a little further east is at 6600 hectares. Both were caused by lightning.
There is still an evacuation order in effect for areas of TNRD Electoral Area “E” because of the Wild Goose Lake fire, and an evacuation alert is still in effect for 70 Mile House and South Green Lake. There are still evacuation orders and alerts in parts of the Cariboo Regional District as well. One of those is an alert over a significant area adjacent to West Quesnel.
For complete updates on the orders and alerts, check the TNRD and Cariboo Regional District websites, and check in with CFJC Today. com.
Traffic is pretty much back to normal in the Cache Creek region following a series of weekend mudslides triggered by the heavy rains. The mudslides 23 kilometers west of Savona have been cleared. The road is fully open, but there’s still mud and debris on the road and motorcycle travel isn’t recommended. There is mud and debris on the road between Cache Creek and Clinton but the road is open. The only area where traffic is still closed in both directions is on Highway 99 at the Hat Creek Corner. There’s no estimated time of reopening.
