The White Rock Lake wildfire levelled structures around Monte Lake and in the Paxton Valley Thursday night. (Photo by Scottie Duncan)
The White Rock Lake fire has devastated the community of Monte Lake and the nearby Paxton Valley Thursday evening.
Footage sent to NL News from witness Scottie Duncan shows multiple homes and vehicles burned to ash on Paxton Valley Road, about one kilometre east of Monte Lake.
Duncan said when he arrived the fire had already levelled much of the area.
“Fire was moving down the valley at an extraordinary pace,” he said.
He added the winds were extremely strong this evening causing the fire to jump Highway 97 just south of Monte Lake as it grew substantially to the northeast. Based on what he saw, Duncan says the fire reached at least four-to-five km up Paxton Valley Road.
Speaking to NL News, TNRD board chair Ken Gillis said he was told by the BC Wildfire Service that the fire moved 18 kilometres in about eight hours.
“It has been a devastating night for the TNRD,” Gillis said.
“This year’s fires are behaving in a manner they’ve never seen before. It is almost exceedingly aggressive and almost impossible to get ahead of.”
Highway 97 has been closed from the Monte Creek exit, just outside of Kamloops, to Salmon River Road, east of Falkland.
The fire was last estimated at 32,500 hectares but it has grown substantially this evening.
It has forced more than 1,300 evacuation orders, spanning east from Monte Lake to parts of the North and Central Okanagan.
Evacuation Orders Extended Further Northwest; Kamloops Issues 2,567 Evacuation Alerts
For up-to-the-minute information on evacuation alerts and/or orders within Kamloops and the TNRD, as of 10:30 p.m. and later, click here.
With winds blowing the fire north, the Thompson-Nicola Regional District issued 303 new evacuation orders this evening, extending to the southeast portion of the Kamloops city limits.
The order covers Roche Lake Provincial Park and parts of Robbins Range Road and Scuitto Lake Forest Service Road in the west, further east to Pillar Lake, Martin Prairie Road and other areas.
Another 117 properties in the TNRD along the southern boundary on Kamloops have been put on evacuation alert. Those properties are along Highway 5A from just north of Bleeker Lake Forest Service Road to just south of Knutsford, including Hosli Lake and Scuitto Lake.
Meanwhile, the City of Kamloops has opened its Emergency Operations Centre, saying the White Rock Lake fire has “potential to cross over municipal boundaries.”
As of 10:20 p.m., the city has issued an evacuation alert for 2,567 properties in Dallas, Barnhartvale, and Campbell Creek. More information can be found here.
– with files from Victor Kaisar
Monte Lake and Paxton Valley east of #Kamloops have been devastated tonight by the White Rock Lake wildfire. The full extent is not yet clear. This video was sent to @RadioNLNews by Scottie Duncan showing multiple homes destroyed at the 1km mark of Paxton Valley Road, off Hwy 97. pic.twitter.com/GIwsMl0Lvh
— Colton Davies (@ColtonDavies_) August 6, 2021
