The forest fire situation has grown increasingly worse in the Southeast Fire Centre after lightning hit much of the area this weekend. There’s currently 165 active wildfires – 19 were started on Sunday. Fire Information Officer Ashley Davidoff gives a picture of the situation.
Two fires were started in Syringa Provincial Park outside of Castlegar this weekend. The closest is located about three kilometers north of the lake. And there’s an area restriction for the entire Silverton Creek drainage, including Idaho Peak due to the Blacktail Mountain wildfire in Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park.
Davidoff says the Randal Creek wildfire near Yahk is a concern.
An evacuation alert was also put in effect by the Regional District of East Kootenay for one residential property in the area. An evacuation order remains in effect for three residences in the Sheep Creek Road area southeast of Salmo due to the McArthur Creek Wildfire which is approximately 120 hectares in size.
The Toronto Creek wildfire north of Grand Forks has caused an evacuation alert for 22 rural addresses.
33 addresses are also on alert between Christina Lake and Rossland due to the Horns Mountain wildfire. The Regional District of Kootenaty Boundary issued an update. They said lower temperatures, higher relative humidity and lower wind speeds are helping the fires. They say with winds predicted out of the west in the coming days, we will see the smoke drift out of our region and warmer, dryer conditions return.
