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BC Wildfire: Expect activity to pick up on South Okanagan wildfires

The fires have been quiet over the last few days
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BC Wildfire is expecting the South Okanagan’s two wildfires to grow as wind and heat conditions pick up.

The wind is currently coming largely out of the north, and blowing the Thomas Creek and Nk’Mip Creek fires largely back on themselves, allowing BC Wildfire teams to get in closer on the active northern sections to fight them.

Neither fire has shown much growth beyond their previous estimates of 11,755 hectares for Thomas Creek and the 17,472 hectares of the Nk’Mip Creek wildfire.

With Thomas Creek, the plan over the coming days is to conduct further controlled burns along the northern guardlines.

READ MORE: AdventureSmart BC calls on people to be careful in the backcountry during fire season

A break in the smoke on Wednesday allowed the air tankers to drop retardant along the north flank of the Nk’Mip Creek fire, with further drops planned for Thursday afternoon.

The steep terrain has made establishing machine guardlines difficult, and many crews are currently focused on the southeast flank of the fire.

Structural protection crews continue to check and double-check the defences around the Mount Baldy area. Those structural protection crews also are assisting with fight the fire through other measures, from refilling water bladders to hauling water with their more urban-equipped trucks to resupply more offroad wildfire crews.

In addition to establishing machine guardlines along established forest roads, BC Wildfire is also building up contingency lines as part of its work against the fires.

Due to the wildfires, there are currently 73 properties in the RDOS on evacuation alert for the Nk’Mip Creek wildfire, and eight properties on evacuation order for the Thomas Creek wildfire.

BC Wildfire is also ready with additional initial attack crews not stationed on either of the ongoing fires in case of any additional wildfires.

To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.

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Brennan Phillips

About the Author: Brennan Phillips

Brennan was raised in the Okanagan and is thankful every day that he gets to live and work in one of the most beautiful places in Canada.
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