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August 28, 2018 - 1:29 PM
VERNON – B.C. Wildfire is giving people in the North Okanagan a heads up about plans to light controlled burns in the Monashee Complex of fires this week.
Crews plan to ignite fires on the Woodward and Harris Creek wildfires today, Aug. 28 until Friday, Aug. 31, to reduce fire fuels and create fire guards, according to a B.C. Wildfire Service media release. The exact timing will depend on weather conditions.
Officials say smoke from the controlled burns will be highly visible from Highway 3 east of Vernon, Lumby and Cherryville.
Because it’s so wet in the bush, crews will be sparking the back burns not only by hand with drip torches, but also from helicopters using helitorches, devices that drop burning lumps of gelled gasoline.
Neither the 220-hectare Woodward Creek fire northwest of Cherryville nor the 760-ha Harris Creek fire southeast of Lumby are threatening homes or other structures.
The Monashee Complex is made up for 27 fires, 12 of which are still active, in the area of Mabel and Sugar Lakes from just south of Highway 3 in the south to Three Valley Gap in the north, B.C. Wildfire says.
For more information about prescribed burns go here.
— This story was updated at 8:09 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018 to correct the southern boundary of the Monashee Complex to Highway 3, not Highway 6 as originally stated. Thanks to reader Joan Carlsen for pointing out the error.
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