Lower Blueberry Creek blaze in Shuswap considered held: B.C. Wildfire

Three of nine wildfires burning in the Shuswap region are either listed as under control or being held.

That’s according to the B.C. Wildfire Service, which issued updates Saturday on the five fires.

In the North Shuswap, two fires along the Seymour Arm of Shuswap Lake are in different stages.

The Lower Blueberry Creek fire, located in the hills above Dasnier’s Bay and sized at just under one hectare (0.8), is deemed to be under control.

The fire was discovered on July 17 and is believed to have been started by lightning.

Around four km north of that is the McNomee Creek fire, which is sized at 0.8 of a hectare but is remote and is listed as out of control. It also has a suspected cause of dry lightning.

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The Columbia Shuswap Regional District says nine smokejumpers and a heavy-bucket helicopter are battling the fire.

An aerial photograph of wildfire K41062, which is located in the North Shuswap.

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Heading slightly south is a fire located 32 km north of Sicamous.

The unnamed incident (K41062) is estimated at 1.5 hectares and is said to be out of control. It’s also remote, located around a kilometre west of the mouth of the Hunakwa Creek, which feeds into Shuswap Lake.

Around seven km southeast of that fire, and across Shuswap Lake, is the Four Mile Creek blaze.

Another remote fire, this one is considered being held and was sized at half a hectare. It’s located in steep terrain around 27 km north of Sicamous.

And nine km southeast of Sicamous is the Mara Mountain wildfire, a blaze estimated at 19.2 hectares.

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It’s listed as out of control, but, like the others, is in remote terrain.

“It is burning in extremely steep terrain and is inaccessible for fire crews. Aircraft continue to monitor the fire,” said the regional district.

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And 13 km west of that, a spot fire called the Yard Creek blaze is considered held.

Earlier Saturday, the BC Wildfire Service warned that residents could see a spike this weekend in lightning-caused fires from this week’s earlier thunderstorms.

And trekking back to the North Shuswap, BCWS crews found three fires in a remote three-kilometre radius around 18 km northeast of Seymour Arm.

One fire was discovered on Friday, with the remaining two being found on Sunday. All are currently listed as being small fires.

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According to the BC Wildfire Service, there are 30 wildfires in the Kamloops Fire Centre. Of the 30, 24 are said to have been started by lightning, with three caused by human activity. The remaining four are undetermined.

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“This week, we’ve had some lightning activity across the region,” said fire information officer Aydan Coray. “We had around 300 strikes (on Wednesday) across the fire centre region.

“Thursday, we had 50 strikes, and Friday, we had seven strikes. So, still seeing a lot of lightning activity out there.”

Coray says the lightning isn’t being accompanied by rain, which increases the risk of wildfires being started.

“So it’s something that we are monitoring very closely,” said Coray, “seeking out new starts, using our new aircraft to look for those new starts and action them appropriately.”

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