Key takeaways:
- Keremeos Creek wildfire has risen to 22.6 square kilometers; 438 properties are on evacuation warning.
- A growing wildfire has initiated more evacuations in southern British Columbia, with officials insisting that people follow orders.
Evacuation orders have now been given for 324 properties in B.C.’s southern Interior following the significant expansion of the Keremeos Creek wildfire over the last day.
As of Monday at 2:30 p.m. P.T., the blaze to the southwest of Penticton was estimated at 22.6 square kilometers, almost five times the estimate given a day before.
“It’s not a very predictable wildfire. It’s an out-of-control wildfire,” B.C. Wildfire Service information officer Bryan Zandberg told journalists at a press conference.
Also read: B.C.’s most extensive wildfires stay stable, but intense heat sparks worries
The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) issued a new evacuation ruling Monday afternoon, covering approximately 50 properties along Sheep Creek Road South and Highway 3A and north of Olalla.
In total, the wildfire has caused the evacuation of 324 properties so far, and another 438 are on evacuation warning, meaning they should be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice, according to RDOS information officer Erick Thompson.
Zandberg said activity on the blaze had been “extreme” over the previous 24 hours. Firefighters have helped from a temperature inversion in the mornings, which keeps smoke low to the ground and restricts oxygen to the fire, but that has managed to lift in the afternoon, allowing the fire to grow.
Source – CBC News
