The Sparks Lake wildfire, June 30, 2021.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK/BC Wildfire Service
July 13, 2021 - 11:16 AM
The Thompson Nicola Regional District has expanded evacuation orders to include 110 more properties due to the Sparks Lake wildfire.
There are now hundreds of properties ordered to evacuate, and even more on alert, as of today, July 13, as flames encroach on more property lines.
As the fire moves southward, B.C. Wildfire Service has been building control lines from Red Lake to South Carabine Hill, but the new order now extends passed that line to the southeast.
The order now encompasses properties along Tranquille-Criss Creek Road and the Dewdrop Range.
The wildfire, which was discovered on June 28, has now reached over 400 square kilometres and one firefighter has been seriously injured as a result.
A GoFundMe has been started for the firefighter, who was injured on July 7 and was airlifted from Kamloops to Vancouver to be treated in an Intensive Care Unit.
"Dylan’s journey to recovery will be a long one, and will rely on a lot of support from all aspects of his day to day life," the fundraiser organizer, Maria Cihlar, said on the web page. "We have received a lot of outpouring love from his brotherhood of firefighters, including the pilots who were working the fire with him."
The fundraiser has raised over $27,000 so far.
While 128 firefighters from the wildfire service establish control lines around the Sparks Lake wildfire, they are being assisted by ten helicopters and 60 pieces of heavy equipment.
Those crews are also assisting at six other smaller wildfires on the north and northeast perimeters of the Sparks Lake wildfire.
To the northeast of Kamloops, crews are fighting to gain control of the Embleton Mountain wildfire, which has grown to 466 hectares and prompted the evacuation of 132 properties around Whitecroft.
Sun Peaks, and other regional district properties near the wildfire, are on alert but the fire spread uphill and away from communities on Monday.
It remains out of control as the wildfire burns on steep and difficult terrain.
The wildfire service says unstable slopes and rockslides are posing a threat to firefighters, so helicopters are assisting where hot spots are more problematic.
Two helicopters, eight heavy equipment units and local fire departments are assisting 34 firefighters from the wildfire service.
South, toward Logan Lake, the Durand Lake wildfire remains out of control, but remains at an estimated 277 hectares, according to the wildfire service.
Twenty-four regional district properties remain on evacuation order as 12 firefighters work to establish fireguards to control its spread.
There are currently 98 active wildfires in the Kamloops Fire Centre with eight fires of note, according to the wildfire service.
Throughout the province, over 70% of current wildfires are suspected to have been caused by lightning.
Go here to see the B.C. Wildfire Service dashboard of active fires in B.C.
Go here to see the Thompson Nicola Regional District evacuation status dashboard.
Go here to see the GoFundMe for Dylan, the injured B.C. Wildfire Service firefighter.
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