Key takeaways:
- Hundreds stay on evacuation warning near Penticton due to the Keremeos Creek fire.
- Hot, dry circumstances in British Columbia allowed fuel to the Keremeos Creek wildfire, putting some places under evacuation warnings.
- The region has had fewer fires than last summer, but the circumstances remain challenging for firefighters.
Officials are advising British Columbians to be aware of the wildfire threat, even as the most significant blazes in the region remained stable Sunday.
The most concerning fire in B.C. remains the 4.4-square-kilometer Keremeos Creek wildfire, southwest of Penticton, in the southern Interior.
It’s guaranteed to have destroyed one structure and is categorized as an “interface” fire, considered a danger to community infrastructure.
“It’s promising news today; the blaze wasn’t moving as much since it began,” said Chief Greg Gabriel, of Penticton Indian Band, in a phone interview Sunday evening. “We had very minimal currents today.
Also read: Unrelenting heat shatters more temperature records across B.C.
“But the fire is in a bad place, causing numerous challenges to attack the fire. It’s a total vertical … rocky place in a tight valley.” He stated that the fire was kilometers from the border of the First Nation’s reserve boundary.
On Sunday morning, B.C.’s wildfire service took a community elder to consider the fire in a chopper and identify important cultural areas; Gabriel said two such sites had been burned.
The fire has resulted in 25 properties being placed on evacuation order and upwards of 350 properties being put on evacuation warning in the province. The “erratic” fire jumped a street overnight Friday and almost tripled in size on Saturday.
However, on Sunday night, the B.C. Wildfire Service said minimal change was observed, and the fire stayed at its estimated size from Saturday. The fire is located 21 km from Penticton and is just more extensive than the size of Vancouver’s Stanley Park.
Source – CBC News
