NEAR PENTICTON–Fire crews have gotten the upper hand on a grass fire burning in the South Okanagan.
It broke out on Penticton Indian Band land Monday afternoon, west of Skaha Lake on Green Mtn. Road at Shingle creek.
Green Mountain road was shut down for a time as members of the Penticton Indian Band fire department and the BC Forest Service battled what was being called an aggressive fire.
Upslope winds made the flames unpredictable and the fire quickly grew to 17.5 hectares in size.
Three helicopters and an air tanker attacked the fire from the sky, 40 ground crew and bulldozer were running fire guard.
The winds shifted late Monday causing the fire activity to quiet down substantially.
The air supression ended before dark but will resume Tuesday morning if necessary.
The 40 person ground crew will monitor the fire through the night.
There are homes in the area, the closest being about 400 meters from the fire.
There are currently no evacuations or evacuation alerts.
The fire is believed to be human caused.
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