UPDATE 9:15 a.m., July 23 – The City of Kamloops says a pair of fires that were sparked after an intense Monday evening thunderstorm are under control.

In an update just before 1 a.m. Tuesday, the City says the two fires were in the Rose Hill and Peterson Creek areas.

“KFR crews have successfully contained and controlled two lightning caused fires in the Rose Hill and Peterson Creek areas,” the update said. “There are no other known fires within city limits but KFR has additional resources on patrol overnight.”

KFR Chief Ken Uzeloc says crews were prepared to respond to the fires.

“As the lightning storm came in, we actually staffed-up additional resources for a wildland taskforce of a bush truck and a water tender,” noted Uzeloc. “We had some extra staff on-duty to be prepared for that.”

The early Tuesday update came about 90 minutes after the City said its Emergency Operations Centre was “aware of several fire ignitions” linked to the thunderstorm.

“We had so many calls on the 9-1-1 line coming in for the lightning strikes and the report of fires that people started calling in to the regular lines to report them, so we ended up calling in an additional dispatcher as well,” said Uzeloc.

At this time, its not clear how many lightning strikes were recorded across B.C., but there were several hundred between Kamloops and Prince George as well as across Northern B.C. and northwestern Alberta.

While there was also some rain reported across parts of Kamloops Monday evening, it was likely not enough to prevent new fires from sparking over the next 24 to 48 hours.

The City of Kamloops is asking people to call 911 if they see a suspected fire. People can also report a wildfire to the BC Wildfire Service by calling 1-800-663-5555 or *5555 on a cellphone.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen this widespread of a lightning event across the province of #BC – note this image only depicts lightning within the last hour!! ⚡️🤯
I can’t even imagine how many fire starts there are going to be over the next day or two! Sigh 😔 #BCwx #BCstorm… pic.twitter.com/w2Q9RzUDso

— Ryan Voutilainen 🇨🇦🇫🇮 (@RyanVoutilainen) July 23, 2024

That was quite the storm that rolled through #kamloops this evening. The next few days are going to be interesting. @Kamscan pic.twitter.com/PYhpZQpUUQ

— Dave – AlpineLifer 🐈‍⬛ 📷❄️ (@AlpineLifer) July 23, 2024

A fire that was reported in the hills above Juniper Ridge – in the vicinity of Qu’appelle Blvd. and Adams Ave. – turned out to be a false alarm. Upon further investigation, it turned out to be a reflection of the moon and some clouds and not a fire.

The conclusion is people were seeing the moon

— Kamscan (@Kamscan) July 23, 2024

Residents in the Juniper area were on edge three years ago when a wildfire threatened to cause significant destruction on Canada Day in 2021. While no properties were destroyed, a number of residents who were trying to flee were trapped in their vehicles on Highland Road due to a lack of available escape routes.

While some emergency egress routes connecting that neighbourhood have been completed, the City says work to build a second permanent access route has been delayed by at least a year to 2026 because of delays at the provincial level.

As of this update, the BC Wildfire Service says there were 362 active fires across the province, with 206 of those considered out of control. Forty-six of those active fires are in the Kamloops Fire Centre with 28 out of control.

The 2024 fire season – which began on April 1 – has burned 877,708 hectares or 8,777 sq. kilometres of land, the vast majority of which – 825,617 ha or 8,256 sq. km. – is in the Prince George Fire Centre.