Update –
A grass fire that sparked about 16 kilometres east of Cache Creek is currently being held according to the B.C. Wildfire Service.
Fire Information Officer Madison Smith says there are 22 personnel at the scene of the 40 hectare Semlin wildfire.
“And upon arrival this morning, it was determined that the fire did not grow at all overnight,” she says. “And we changed the status to ‘Being Held’, which indicates that we don’t anticipate any further spread beyond the existing or pre-determined boundaries.”
Those boundaries are the Thompson River and the railway tracks, and Smith says those successful suppression efforts allowed crews to focus on priority areas of the fire.
She says the firefighters will be working today to patrol and mop up the scene.
Original –
Twenty-two BC Wildfire Service personnel are heading back to the scene of the Semlin wildfire, about 16 kilometres east of Cache Creek.
Fire information officer Madison Smith says crews were at the scene of the fire until late last night.
“The fire is currently 41 hectares in size,” she says. “The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The status of the fire is still out of control at this time, and there are no structures threatened.”
Smith says it’s hard to estimate if the fire will grow in size once again today. She says an air tanker crew was helping out yesterday, and says it will be called back out today if needed.
Meanwhile, the wildfire service says the fire rating could rise this week in the Kamloops Fire Centre.
Information officer Erika Berg says that possibility comes as temperatures will reach above 30 degrees in the southern Interior this week.
“Our area of risk for the majority of the season has been the Interior, the southern Interior especially. We’re also looking at the Southeast (Fire Centre). It’s going to be primarily south; temperatures have been rather cool up in the north, even seeing some snow. So it’s going to be our southern areas.”
Right now, the fire danger rating is “low” to “very low” in the majority of B.C., with a “high” risk in pockets of southern and central B.C.
This season, just over 21,000 hectares have burned in B.C.; Berg points out that is significantly lower than the 10-year average of more than 307,000 hectares.
(Photo: Twitter: Jen Hahn)
– With files from Victor Kaisar
