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Wildfire crews have ‘upper hand’ on 60-hectare blaze in Kamloops’s Batchelor Heights area

Click to play video: 'Kamloops fire burns in the Batchelor Heights area'
Kamloops fire burns in the Batchelor Heights area
WATCH: Crews are now in the clean-up stage of a fast-moving fire in Kamloops but officials say it could have been much worse. Nadia Stewart reports – Jun 22, 2018

The BC Wildfire Service has the “upper hand” on a “highly visible fire” in Kamloops.

The approximately 60-hectare blaze flared up on Thursday in the city’s Batchelor Heights area, forcing tactical evacuations but residents have been allowed to return home, said chief fire information officer Kevin Skrepnek.

The weather in Kamloops is calm and drizzling.

WATCH: ‘Highly visible’ wildfire flares up in Kamloops

Click to play video: '‘Highly visible’ wildfire flares up in Kamloops'
‘Highly visible’ wildfire flares up in Kamloops

Neil Howatt took a video of the fire from Halston Avenue and said it was taking place mostly on grasslands.

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The 12 homes that were evacuated were not threatened — fire personnel did it because they wanted to ensure they had the upper hand on the fire.

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It’s not clear how many people were advised to leave.

READ MORE: Lightning ignites 72 new wildfires in northern B.C.

Residents were sent to a  warming centre in Kamloops.

Fire crews are believed to be making “steady progress” on the blaze.

Here are some photos of the Kamloops grass fire: 

An aircraft drops a substance on a grass fire in Kamloops, June 21, 2018. Karla Karcioglu
An aircraft tackles a Kamloops grass fire on June 21, 2018. Karen Rhea Morgan
An aircraft helps to subdue a grass fire in Kamloops on June 21, 2018. Karen Rhea Morgan
BC Wildfire Service photo of the grass fire in Kamloops on June 21, 2018. BC Wildfire Service
  • With files from James, Peters CFJC

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