The Okanagan can’t seem to catch a break this fire season.
Two weeks after a brief, but intense thunderstorm sparked 16 lightning-caused fires, another system rolled through the region on Tuesday night, sparking at least 22 new fires, ranging from east of Penticton to north of Salmon Arm.
Overall, in the Kamloops Fire Centre, which includes the Okanagan, the B.C. Wildfire Service says lightning hit the area hard, and now there are 71 active fires in the region. Thirty of those were from Wednesday.
The BCWS says due to the sheer number of fires burning in the region, it is assessing and prioritizing as information comes in, but added that it is assigning a lot of resources to battle the fires.
East of Mabel Lake, in the Mabel Park Range, are five wildfires, with four clustered close to each other. The largest fire, as of 11 a.m. Thursday, was estimated at two hectares.
The largest fire in the Thompson-Okanagan appears to be near Monte Lake, located halfway between Vernon and Kamloops along Highway 97. It was estimated to be 22 hectares in size, approximately three kilometres directly south of Monte Lake, in the Monte Hills.
An employee at the Monte Lake store said firefighting crews were scooping water out of Monte Lake last night, adding there was a whiff of smoke in the air this morning and the sky looked a little brownish if you looked up towards the mountains.
BCWS says it is deploying seven personnel and air support as needed.
In the Peachland area, there are two new fires: Trepanier Creek, estimated at .10 hectares; and Jackpine Lake, estimated at 0.01 hectares. BCWS says it is sending 11 personnel to the Jackpine Lake fire and three personnel to the Trepanier Creek fire.
There is also a fire on Pennask Mountain, halfway to Merritt on Highway 97C, and there are two fires north of that: Windy Lake, at .30 hectares; and Chapperon Creek, at 1 hectare.
In West Kelowna, a fire on Mount Swite is at .01 hectares.
South of Lumby: Harris Creek Forest Service Road, 8 ha.
Northeast of Lumby: Trinity Valley Road, 0.01 ha; Proctor Road, 4 ha; Spallumcheen Forest, 2.6 ha.
Salmon Arm area: Mara Lake, 0.01 ha; Bastion Point, 0.01 ha; three km east of Bastion Point, 0.01 ha; south of Eagle Bay, 0.01 ha; Ross Creek, 0.01 ha; Anstey Forest Service Road, 0.2 ha.
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