Wildfire season arrives early in B.C. Interior

It appears wildfire season has come early in the B.C. Interior with reports of two wildfires burning west of Chase, B.C., in the Shuswap region.

The B.C. Wildfire Services’ active wildfires interactive map shows both blazes are burning on the north side of the Thompson River, southeast of Niskonlith Lake.

The Kamloops-Shuswap road fire is 250 hectares in size, while the River Flats fire is mapped at 100 hectares in size.

View image in full screen

Kamloops-based television news station CFJC reports that the fires started Saturday afternoon and smoldered through the evening, burning through grass and brush on the Neskonlith 1 Reserve.

Smoke filled the South Thompson valley.

There’s been no word on the cause of either of the fires.

The two grass fires reported yesterday east of Kamloops are under control and now in patrol and mop-up stage, according to a statement from the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.

“Cooler temperatures overnight helped,” the statement says.

There are six firefighters currently patrolling and mopping up the fires.