The Keremeos Creek wildfire, situated 20 kilometres outside of Penticton, B.C., is now an estimated 5,903 hectares in size, reflecting significant growth in the last day.
“Overnight, downslope winds in excess of 30 kilometres an hour drove fire downhill along Hwy 3A southwards towards Olalla,” BC Wildfire said in a Friday update. On Thursday, the fire was estimated to be 4,250 in size.
Currently, the fire is still within the evacuation order boundaries but, BC Wildfire said, wind and slope continue to be the biggest contributing factors for increased fire behaviour.
“There is heavy smoke over Ollala and Marsel but minimal fire growth on the south flank,” BC Wildfire said.
“There has been effective structure protection established with no fire damage on structures through the overnight period.”
An inversion is forecast Friday, up to 1,700 feet which will affect air operations.
Smoky skies may delay aircraft operations in some sections. Conditions will be similar to yesterday with slightly higher temperatures and expecting gusty winds through the day.
The Regional District of the Okanagan Similkameen issued more evacuation orders on Thursday night and as of Friday afternoon, there are 547 homes on evacuation order.
Of these, 19 are on Green Mountain Road, four on Sheep Creek Road north , 248 in Apex Mountain Village, 30 on Sheep Creek Road and Highway 3A and 246 in Ollalla.
There are also 1,050 on evacuation alert.
Also, the Penticton Indian Band has issued an evacuation alert for 24 properties.
The Olalla Creek Forest Service Road is closed in support of the suppression efforts for the Keremeos Creek wildfire.
There are 227 wildland firefighters assigned to this fire and they are working with an additional 166 structural protection personnel from fire departments across B.C. It amounts to a total crew complement of 393 firefighters.