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Spot fire put out quickly

Lightning strikes spawned one known fire over the weekend in the Balmoral area

Lightning strikes spawned one known fire over the weekend in the Balmoral area.

Fire protection officer Kirk Hughes says the fire was discovered very early Sunday morning.

A three-person Rapattack crew was deployed and the spot-sized fire – less than half a hectare – was extinguished.

The fire was still being patrolled Monday afternoon.

Hughes says the Salmon Arm Zone had lots of reports due to lightning and says there may be some potential for hangover fires.

“Some could still be at the smouldering stage because of those wetter conditions,” he says. “We’re looking at unsettled conditions over the next couple of days with a return to a hot and dry pattern for the weekend.”

With that in mind, officials are planning to undertake fire warden patrols throughout the whole fire zone.

As well as taking routes that connect recreational areas  and campsites, the Forest Service has a lake patrol that goes to assess beachside campsites.

“The reason we do that is for fire prevention and detection, and another is the education around the proper use of campfires,” Hughes says.

Fire protection staff will be making sure people who light fires are in compliance with regulations that permit only campfires one-half metre by one-half metre at this time.

“One message I’d like to convey is we can’t prevent lightning but we can prevent people-caused fires,” Hughes says. “People need to pay attention to the weather and their fires.”

 

There have been five wildfires in the Salmon Arm Zone since April 1, including the weekend one in Balmoral. Two were lightning caused and the other three were human caused.