An aerial shot captured by the B.C. Wildfire Service shows scorched land and plenty of smoke brought on by the East Shuswap Road wildfire on July 13, 2018.
Image Credit: TWITTER/@BCGovFireInfo
Republished July 14, 2018 - 7:55 AM
Original Publication Date July 13, 2018 - 9:15 AM
KAMLOOPS - The East Shuswap Road wildfire flare up that forced evacuations last night has been contained.
Kamloops Fire rescue Platoon Capt. Wade Lindoff says crews made gains overnight and the fire is, "in pretty good shape" this morning and that their crews will return to the hull.
He also says the three households evacuated yesterday have returned home.
B.C. Wildfire remain on scene. Their latest tweet 36 ground personnel remained onsite yesterday evening.
Yesterday the wildfire service posted a tweet stating that crews have succesfully contained an escape on the southeast side of the fire from earlier yesterday evening. Those strong winds caused the fire to spread and forced evacuation orders and alerts in the East Shuswap Road area. Kamloops Fire Rescue was unable to confirm how many residences were affected and the exact locations of those homes.
However, Ferguson believes those evacuation orders will likely be lifted to alerts tonight if it hasn't already been done.
B.C.'s Environment Ministry has released a smoky skies bulletin for the Kamloops area over the next 24 to 48 hours due to wildfire smoke. According to the bulletin, it's possible the smoke will build up in the Kamloops airshed depending on wind direction. Strong and gusty northwest winds are in the forecast for Kamloops tonight.
During a wildfire, smoke conditions can change quickly over a short period of time and distance, and people with pre-existing health conditions, the elderly, infants, children and sensitive indiciduals are more likely to experience health effects from the smoke exposure.
Environment Canada released a special weather statement yesterday warning of potentially high winds in the South Thompson today due to a vigorous cold front, which hampered firefighting efforts for a period of time tonight.
Yesterday, B.C. Wildfire was conducting burn operations using hand ignitions from firefighters on the ground and warned it could create more smoke and flames visible to many residents. The wildfire service clarified tonight that the flare up of the East Shuswap Road wildfire was not caused by these burn operations.
There have been no updates on the size of the wildfire that started in Kamloops yesterday since this morning. It remains at roughly 500 hectares with a warning of high winds in the area today, according to B.C. Wildfire's latest update.
The fire on the Tk'emlups reserve was reported just before noon yesterday, and within a matter of hours the small grass fire had ballooned to 380 hectares.
The East Shuswap Road fire forced the temporary evacuation of six homes in the area yesterday afternoon.
For the latest updates on wildfire activity in the area, go here or follow @BCGovFireInfo on Twitter.
For roads being affected by wildfires, go here or follow @DriveBC on Twitter.
For air quality readings in your area, go here.
— This story was updated at 10:42 a.m. Friday, July 13, 2018 to include new information from B.C. Wildfire.
— This story was updated at 12:38 p.m. Friday, July 13, 2018 to include new information from B.C. Wildfire.
—This story was updated at 5:29 p.m. Friday, July 13 2018 to include new information from B.C. Wildfire.
—This story was updated at 7:51 p.m. Friday, July 13 2018 to include new information from Kamloops Fire Rescue.
—This story was updated at 8:11 p.m. Friday, July 13 to include new information from B.C. Wildfire.
—This story was updated at 10:19 p.m. Friday, July 13 to include new information from B.C. Wildfire, Kamloops Fire Rescue, and the B.C. Environment Ministry.
—This story was updated at 7:51 a.m. Saturday, July 14 to include new information from B.C. wildfire and Kamloops Fire Rescue.
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