The Nk'Mip wildfire near Osoyoos.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/B.C. Wildfire
July 21, 2021 - 11:15 AM
The Nk’Mip Creek wildfire burning near Osoyoos is still mapped at 2,000 hectares though that may change later today.
Aydan Coray, a B.C. Wildfire information officer, said low visibility has challenged their ability to measure the fire’s boundaries accurately but the expectation is that the smoke will clear for long enough today that it can be updated.
What that will yield remains to be seen but, crews on the ground reported that it was a less intense night on what has been an aggressive firefight.
“Overnight recoveries on the fire were good with low temperatures and high relative humidity observed, leading to reduced fire behaviour,” B.C. Wildfire wrote in its update.
“Objectives for today include building a machine guard between Camp McKinney and Bull Moose Road.”
B.C. Wildfire's Dale Bojahara said during a Tuesday afternoon briefing that this fire moved incredibly quickly once it started. To illustrate its intensity, he said it burned through six kilometres over several hours when it broke out Monday night.
Still, it's important to ensure people don't stay on the lake when skimmers and bucketing helicopters come through.
“It is very important to give a very, very wide berth and stay off the lake, if at all possible,” he said. “We're not looking for spectators. We've had numerous instances, up and down the valley with the general public coming in and trying to view the fires at a very low perspective, many times, putting themselves in danger.”
All this does is pull resources from the important job and work they're trying to do.
There are 14 crew members with three helicopters on site today and we have also assigned an incident management team, so they will have an information officer.
An Evacuation Order has been issued for numerous properties by the Osoyoos Indian Band. Contact the Osoyoos Indian Band for more information.
The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen has issued evacuation alerts and orders. For more information contact the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen at 250-492-0237 or visit their website.
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News from © iNFOnews, 2021