It was a smoky and stormy night in the Southern Interior, with hundreds of lightning strikes counted across the region.
According to BC Wildfire Information Officer Taylor Wallace, there were around 640 lightning strikes with varying degrees of precipitation, across the Kamloops Fire Centre, an area that covers 7.1 hectares and Kamloops, Vernon, Penticton, Merritt and Lillooet.
There were 10 fires sparked, mostly of a spot-fire size, and the biggest blaze in the area turned out to be the Rice Road wildfire near Coalmont, and that was human-caused. BC Wildifre has confirmed the cause of the 16 hectare wildfire was human, though Princeton mayor Spencer Coyne has heard further details, noting it was an ATV that caused the blaze.
The fire is out of control, and the challenge posed to firefighters is the steep terrain.
Meanwhile, Wallace said that they’re hoping people can remain vigilant in the days ahead, as there may be holdover fires from the Sunday night storm.
“I’m just asking folks to remain super vigilant over the rest of their long weekend,” Wallace said.
“There may be potential for some holdover fires that come up in the next few days and the rest of the week here so just ask you to keep continue reporting wildfires to our 1-800 reporting line.”
“You can also report wildfires on our BC Wildfire mobile app so you can use the report fire function there. It is super helpful if you are able to take a photo and provide it that way through the app. It’s really helpful for our operations teams to get a sense of what’s going on in the field and if they’re able to figure out what resources to send to the fire to make things more efficient.
To report a fire contact 1-800-663-5555 or * 5555.