Firefighters are not out of the woods yet.
Rain over the weekend helped to tame some of the big blazes in the Kamloops Fire Centre. But while the precipitation helped with upper fuel layers, fire information officer Kelsey Winter says there wasn’t enough of it to reach the deeper levels where lightning can strike.
Winter says the Kamloops Fire Centre continues to get lightning holdovers. Six new fires were discovered on the weekend and crews were going out to look for the fires on Monday morning.
Of the new fires, four were the result of lightning strikes and two were human-caused – one an abandoned campfire and another still under investigation. All were spot-sized fires.
Temperatures are expected to begin climbing again today as an upper ridge of high pressure is building again and will bring another long stretch of warm, dry weather.
“We assess it every week, but because we’re going back into warm and dry conditions, the campfire ban remains in place,” Winter says.
Meanwhile, favourable weather conditions have led to a significant decrease in fire behaviour at the Bolean Lake wildfire, five kilometres north of Falkland.
This cooling trend, along with increasing containment levels, has considerably lowered the risk to nearby structures. On recommendation of the BC Wildfire Service, the Columbia Shuswap Regional District has lifted the evacuation alert in the area.
A restriction put in place for areas around this wildfire, to protect the safety of firefighting personnel and the public, remains in force.
For a map of the restricted area, visit http://bit.ly/1geCI3T.
“We do appreciate people calling when they see smoke or fire,” says Winter.
To report a fire, call 1-800-663-5555 or *5555.