White Rock Lake wildfire as it reaches Monte Lake on Aug. 5, 2021.
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August 05, 2021 - 11:17 PM
As the White Rock Lake wildfire continues to burn through the night, its aggressive growth on Thursday evening has prompted evacuation alerts in southeast Kamloops.
Winds through the afternoon of Aug. 5 have pushed wildfire growth onto the east and west sides of Monte Lake, and the winds are expected to continue into Aug. 6.
The Thompson Nicola Regional District has expanded evacuation orders to Pritchard, with at least 373 properties in that area.
To the west, the City of Kamloops issued an evacuation alert to properties in Campbell Creek, Barnhartvale and Dallas at 9:55 p.m., Aug. 5.
"This evening, those who choose not to leave Evacuation Order areas put B.C.'s first responders at tremendous risk. Efforts were taken away from actively suppressing the wildfire and protecting structures to be redirected towards tactically evacuating those who choose to remain in evacuation order area," a Thursday night update from the B.C. Wildfire Service reads. "This continues to be an incredibly volatile situation displaying extremely vigorous surface and active crown fire. B.C. Wildfire Service's primary focus is public safety. If you are in an Evacuation Order area you must leave immediately."
The wildfire is 5 kilometres from Westside Road on its southeast flank.
Winds from the west are expected to contine through the night, ranging from 10 to 20 km/h. On Aug. 6, winds in the same direction will may gust up to 40 km/h.
According to the regional district, the TNRD website has been experiencing issues due to a high volume of users. Residents can follow the regional district social media updates or the Evacuation Status Dashboards for the most up to date information.
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