There were more than 500 lightning strikes throughout the Okanagan and Shuswap on Monday night, sparking 10 fires.
The BC Wildfire Service’s Taylor Shantz said of the 10 fire starts, five are either under control or being held. As of Tuesday morning, the remaining five were out of control.
“We had good forecasting to indicate that there was a high potential for lightning and some warmer temperatures so fires that would start quickly,” Shantz said.
With that in mind, the BC Wildfire Service had crews ready and available for what came.
“I think that ultimately worked out for us,” Shantz said.
The same was likely true of municipal fire departments.
The Kelowna Fire Department dealt with a wildfire in the Gallagher Canyon area. BC Wildfire was sent to assist and it was under control in short order.
To the north, Vernon Fire Rescue Services and the Lake Country Fire Department jointly responded to reports of lightning-caused spot fires Monday night.
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At approximately 8:05 p.m. multiple lightning strikes were spotted in the Commonage/Predator Ridge area of Vernon.
Personnel on the ground were able to confirm and deal with five separate small wildland fires that sparked in the location of Howards and Commonage roads, a representative from the Vernon Fire Department said.
With the assistance of the Lake Country Fire Department, the quick action of crews prevented the fires from spreading.
Fire crews remain in the area monitoring for additional hot spots.
“It was the vigilance of area residents in reporting these lightning strikes that allowed crews to quickly locate and contain the fires before they could spread,” fire Chief David Lind said. “Reporting of lightning strikes and wildland fires is important to enable a quick response.”
Conditions remain extremely dry and VFRS is urging all residents and visitors to remain vigilant.
While some successes were noted, the wild weather did not work in favour of the Hullcar fire in the North Okanagan.
“Our track size for that one is 320 hectares in size,” Shantz said.
“It did grow overnight due to winds.”
Tuesday morning, however, there was some subdued fire behaviour.
Shantz said that on Monday, there were some questions about whether or not the power lines in the area were threatened, and they were for naught.
“There is still no anticipated threat to those resources required, tends to be more active going in the other direction,” Shantz said.
To report a fire inside city limits, call 911. To report a wildfire, please call 1-800-663-5555 (toll-free) or *5555 on a cellphone or submit a report directly through the BC Wildfire Service mobile app.
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