Wildfires near Kelowna fully contained and under control | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Kelowna News

Wildfires near Kelowna fully contained and under control

FILE - A plume of smoke can be seen from the Little White Mountain fire southeast of Kelowna, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2015. Wildfire crews now have the blaze 100 per cent contained.
Image Credit: Twitter/Brittney Andreesen

"RAIN HAS MADE A VERY SIGNIFICANT IMPACT"

KELOWNA – Good news from the fire front as B.C. Wildfire crews get a handle on the last two blazes burning near Kelowna.

The biggest of the pair, the 194-hectare Little White Mountain fire, is 100 per cent contained and in mop up, fire information officer Melissa Klassen says. The Myra Bellevue Park fire, which was burning just a kilometre away, is also completely contained at 6-ha.

Klassen says both fires received a lot of rain overnight and this morning, Aug. 30.

“That rain has made a very significant impact to the fire behavior,” she says.

About 20 firefighters remain at the two fires to mop them up.

Klassen says the crews will be patrolling the fires today, cold trailing and looking for hot spots.

“Cold trailing is when crews line up and walk through the fire, literally using their hands to feel for any heat coming up from the ground and looking for any smokes,” she says. “It’s one of our final stages.”

All of the guards B.C. Wildfire established in the last couple of days have held, “even with strong winds they received yesterday afternoon.”

Both fires were about 25 kilometres southeast of the city and no structures were ever threatened.

An investigation is underway to determine how the human-caused fires were started.

A total of four wildfires were detected near Kelowna on Thursday, Aug. 27.

A 5-ha fire burning along Princeton Avenue west of Peachland, and a small blaze at the 5-km mark of the Gillard Forest Service Road towards Chute Lake, were extinguished by Friday.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Howard Alexander at halexander@infonews.ca. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

News from © iNFOnews, 2015
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