Highway 3A remains closed as the Keremeos Creek wildfire continues to burn.
On Tuesday afternoon, fire officials held their daily update about the large blaze located southwest of Penticton, and near Apex Mountain Resort.
The fire is sized at 6,836 hectares. 1,600 properties are still under either evacuation alerts or orders.
On Monday, it was sized at 5,903 ha. The increase, says BC Wildfire Service (BCWS), was due to planned ignitions during the last few days.
“We’re still mitigating some of those hazards and working as hard as we can to get that corridor open,” BCWS fire information officer Mikhail Elsay said of Highway 3A. Officials noted there is no timeline for when it will reopen.
The BCWS said crews will be conducting planned burns along the backside of Olalla Creek Forest Service Road to help consolidate contingency lines.
Elsay said heavy equipment is being moved from location to location, “but the biggest impact right now are the fire engines. We have a lot of structure protection — water tenders, fire engines — moving in and out of some of the smaller streets.”
According to the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen (RDOS), in Electoral Areas G and I, there are 547 properties on evacuation order, an unchanged number from the past few days. Another 1,050 properties are under evacuation alert in areas G and I plus the Village of Keremeos.
The RDOS noted that if an evacuation order is rescinded, it will be announced through its regular channels, such as Facebook, Twitter and Voyent Alert.
There have been 606 registrations for Emergency Support Services (ESS).
This week’s weather forecast is calling for a mix of sun, clouds and possible rain — something BCWS calls favourable.
“It’s cooler today, much cooler than the last couple of days have been, which is definitely helping,” said Elsay. “The biggest thing the crews will notice is that it won’t be as draining on their bodies, and the equipment will be able to work a little longer.”
The forecast is also calling for possible thunderstorms on Wednesday, which BCWS understandably calls concerning.
“There may be thunderstorms and, with that, erratic winds and potentially lightning, which could give us some new start-ups,” said Elsay.
Overall, there are 256 wildland firefighters battling the blaze, along with 157 structural protection personnel,16 helicopters and 45 pieces of heavy equipment.