Lightning captured on camera in the Kamloops region, Aug. 10, 2022.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Ben Walker
August 12, 2022 - 9:47 AM
In the last three days, the B.C. Interior has seen 17 new wildfires spark due to lightning strikes.
Severe thunderstorm warnings were issued yesterday afternoon, Aug. 11, for much of the Interior, including the Okanagan, Shuswap, Thompson and Nicola. In Savona, the local fire department responded to a house fire that sparked due to lightning.
READ MORE: Lightning strike sparks house fire in Savona
From midnight Aug. 9 to Aug. 12, 2,617 lightning strikes were recorded in the Kamloops Fire Centre, said B.C. Wildfire information officer Taylor Colman, which covers south-central B.C. including the Okanagan and Thompson Nicola regions.
A majority of the strikes occurred in the Shuswap, Thompson-Okanagan regions, and the Nicola Valley.
The lighting storm brought more precipitation to the region than the wildfire service anticipated and initial attack crews have been able to get a handle on the fires early, Colman said.
“We did receive between 10 to 20 mm of rain on that too so if we do see starts on those it could be holdover fires," she said, meaning the fires won't be discovered until temperatures rise and forest fuels are dry.
Typically, an initial attack crew of three or four people will respond to the spot fires but it also depends on the type of fuel the fire is burning in or how difficult is to access the fire.
“A majority of the fires haven’t grown above spot sized at this point. There were a couple that were 0.6 ha but otherwise, they’ve remained a single-tree fire,” she said.
The Otter Creek wildfire, which started Aug. 11, is still a spot fire this morning. It is burning roughly 500 metres south of Highway 97C near the Highway 5A intersection.
Over the next few days, daytime temperatures are expected to climb above 30 Celsius so the wildfire service is preparing for holdover fires.
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