'Wind-driven wildfire' spreads quickly | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Kamloops News

'Wind-driven wildfire' spreads quickly

A wildfire that started Saturday afternoon in the Spatsum Creek area quickly spread to 100 hectares because of high winds over the weekend.

Fire information officer Michaela Swan describes the fire as, “a wind-driven wildfire, pushed by winds Saturday and Sunday.”

Cooler temperatures and precipitation Sunday night through Monday morning has aided crews in containing the fire – which is now considered 70 per cent contained. Most areas are just smoldering and there are no open flames, Swan says. As of Monday afternoon 44 firefighters and one helicopter were on site.

The fire site, about 20-kilometres south of Ashcroft and northwest of Highland Valley Cooper, is mostly grass. It is suspected the fire is person-caused and is under investigation.

It is the only fire of note in the region right now, though Swan says there are several smaller ones within the Kamloops Fire Centre region.

This is the third fire of note this month – a fire on April 3 consumed 16 hectares just northwest of Cache Creek and on April 22 a fire northwest of Savona covered 15 hectares.

Last April crews battled a 126-hectare fire just 11-kilometres south of the fire this weekend and in April 2010 a fire 8.5-kilometres northeast of Spences Bridge consumed 80 hectares.


To contact a reporter for this story, email jstahn@infotelnews.ca or call (250) 819-3723.

 

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