Highways closed, smoke fills the sky as wildfires take over Interior | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Kelowna News

Highways closed, smoke fills the sky as wildfires take over Interior

A wildfire near Rock Creek has forced evacuations and closed highways in the area.
Image Credit: @miguelramostv via Twitter

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - A hot, dry week followed by a lightning storm that moved through the region has led to an increase in aggressive fire activity in the Kamloops and Southeast Fire Centres today.

Currently Highways 33 and 3 are closed because of a 350-hectare wildfire that is growing rapidly near Rock Creek. The fire was discovered today, Aug. 13, and quickly forced evacuations in the area. Firefighters, airtankers and helicopters are responding. Highway 33 is closed from McColloch Road south to Rock Creek while Highway 3 is closed two kilometres west of Rock Creek.

Fire Information Officer Kayla Pepper says two new fires of note are also burning in the Kamloops Fire Centre and are contributing to the amount of smoke in the air. The largest is a 120-ha fire burning aggressively southwest of Logan Lake and the other is west of Stump Lake, currently burning at about 80 ha.

Pepper says the Skuhun Creek fire near Logan Lake is not immediately threatening any structures, but is putting up ‘significant smoke.’ She also notes there is a fire burning just south of the U.S. border. Last she heard it was at about 100 ha and B.C. Wildfire is assessing what resources should be deployed to that fire.

There are currently more than 10 active wildfires in the Kamloops Fire Centre and another 20 wildfires that have been discovered in the last 24 hours.

The air quality health index is currently rated at a moderate five throughout the Kamloops and Okanagan regions and is expected to stay moderate through Friday. People are advised to take precautions while outdoors. No air quality advisories have been issued as of 5 p.m.

 

 

Trying to get back home from Grand Forks, made it as far as Rock Creek and its on fire. Turning back and going around the long way thru Castlegar and Nakusp I guess... Hope Rock Creek peeps are going to be ok ?? Posted by Kathy Hubble on Thursday, August 13, 2015

To contact a reporter for this story, email Jennifer Stahn at jstahn@infonews.ca or call 250-819-3723. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

News from © iNFOnews, 2015
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