If you see flames and smoke rising from the boundaries of Myra Bellevue park don’t be alarmed. Not yet, anyway.
There are 200 piles of wood debris that the BC Wildfire Service, in conjunction with BC Parks and the Okanagan Shuswap Resource District, plan to ignite in the Penticton Fire Zone.
The fires are part of the fuels management project supporting The City of Kelowna’s community wildfire protection program and is expected to get underway March 21.
“Staff from the BC Wildfire Service will carefully prepare, control, and monitor these fires,” reads the press release from BC Wildfire. “Smoke and/or flames may be visible from Kelowna and surrounding areas.
The exact timing of the burns will depend on the site weather, venting and snow conditions. They’re looking for conditions that will allow smoke to dissipate.
This is one of several burns scheduled around the Okanagan in advance of summer.
Prescribed burning is one of a number of fuel management tools and techniques that can be used to help reduce the intensity of naturally-occurring wildfires while returning an integral process to the ecosystem, according to the province.
Last summer was the third worst for wildfires on the books.
More than 1,600 fires burned nearly 8,700 square kilometres of land, some of which carried on through October.
A drought and record-breaking heat waves were drivers for the particularly bad season.
To report a wildfire, unattended campfire, or open burning violation, please call 1 800 663-5555 toll-free or *5555 on a cellphone.
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