The White Rock Lake fire has forced the closure of a large part of Highway 97 between Kamloops and Vernon.
The closure covers the turnoff at exit 399 in Monte Creek to Salmon River Road, east of Falkland. Drivers reported being turned around at noon today, and DriveBC gave official word of the closure just before 1:30 p.m.
At this point, DriveBC is not expecting to give another update on the highway closure until 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, meaning the highway could remain closed until then. People are being told to use Highways 97A, 97 B and 1 as a detour, through Enderby and Salmon Arm.
This closure comes just hours after DriveBC issued a travel advisory on Highway 97 from Barnhartvale Road to Falkland because of the White Rock Lake fire.
Fire information officer Hannah Swift says the closure was brought in because of heavy smoke from winds, which picked up at about 11:30 a.m., which posed a safety risk to firefighters and the travelling public.
Hundreds of properties were put on an evacuation order at 8:30 p.m. last night, including all of Monte Lake, Westwold, Falkland, and Cedar Hill.
The BC Wildfire Service says there are winds in the forecast this afternoon from the southwest, which will push parts of the fire further northeast. Those winds are expected to be around 25 km/hr with gusts up to 40 km/hr.
Those winds will make it a challenge to crews on the ground, particularly along the northeast and eastern flanks of the fire.
“Heavy smoke is impacting Highway 97 north of Monte Lake and east of Falkland. Heavy smoke has been observed on the northern flank of the fire and the RCMP are assisting with the immediate of Highway 97 for the safety of the public and first responders,” Rob Schweitzer, the Director of Fire Centre Operations said.
“I would like to thank the public for their respect of the evacuation orders so our teams can focus on the work they need to do.”
Schweitzer says there are significant resources assigned to the White Rock Lake fire, including 136 firefighters – 99 from Quebec – who being assisted by 13 helicopters and 43 pieces of heavy equipment.
“The BC Wildfire Service right now is committing significant structure resources to this incident including 125 structural protection personnel from 25 different fire departments across the province,” Schweitzer added.
“These personnel will remain on site overnight to ensure 24 hour coverage of the protections of the homes in this area.”
The White Rock Lake wildfire is now mapped at 32,500 hectares.
More than 1,000 properties are on evacuation order, spread across parts of the Thompson Nicola Regional District, the Columbia Shuswap Regional District, the Regional District of North Okanagan, the Central Okanagan Regional District and the Okanagan Indian Band.
– With files from Victor Kaisar
