The incident commander in charge of the fight to control six wildfires in British Columbia’s Slocan Lake region says changing weather conditions in the area pose a challenge for crews.
Jason Lawler, incident commander with an Australian management team brought in to help, says what occurs in the morning can be very different than in the afternoons on some days.
In a video posted online by the BC Wildfire service, Lawler says layers of smoke are also making it difficult to deploy aircraft to help.
Lawler says he’s not expecting improvement in the weather in the coming days “and the weather conditions aren’t great at the moment.”
The entire village of Slocan, east of Kelowna, was ordered evacuated Sunday along with hundreds of surrounding properties as multiple fires burn nearby.
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Mayor Jessica Lunn says the evacuation has been surreal but she is comforted by the amount of support her community is receiving.
“Everyone has been really nervous, (there’s) a lot of anxiety or angst, and I’ve been so heartened to see the care in community, the offers from the wider community, to support our fellow Slocanites and those affected by these fires,” she said.
“There’s been a lot of neighbours helping neighbours. So folks were quite prepared for the actual evacuation order.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2024