Evacuation alerts have also been issued for several other areas of the province, including 28 homes near Ashcroft close to the 2.5-square kilometre Coldstream wildfire and 80 properties near Bear Creek Provincial Park, just outside West Kelowna.
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It’s one of 10 evacuation alerts or orders across the province, where more than 250 blazes are burning, 43 of which broke out on Tuesday following a series of lightning storms.
There have been nearly 12-hundred wildfires so far this season across B-C, and 216 are still burning.
About 100 fire personnel from Ontario are scheduled to land in Abbotsford Thursday to help in the fire battle.
New wildfires could continue to spark over in the near future.
An incident management team from B.C. Wildfire Service has assumed control of the fire response and says it’s hoping the calmer, cooler weather beginning today, July 23, allows crews to continue the progress made in the last few days.
“In Kelowna, we are becoming more and more familiar with this, and so it’s kind of like every summer they kind of get the band back together”, said Clark. “This fire is believed to be lightning-caused”, adds Turner.
“Poof, up came some smoke, and within 45 minutes to an hour there were helicopters on it”, he said.
Meantime, there is still no containment as the fire burns up-slope, but as of Thursday no homes had been lost.
“The best thing people can do right now is to call in any smoke or flame that they see”, said Fire Information Officer Kelsey Winter.
Crews have dropped fire retardant on the north and south flanks and have burned out fuels ahead of the fire, he said.
Rain is expected to fall along coastal B.C. on Friday, said Skrepnek, and northern areas will likely see cool temperatures and showers.
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Emergency officials say the fire remains potentially aggressive and it is not yet safe for the order to be changed.
