As crews grapple with a busy wildfire season, someone deliberately set a grass fire in Kelowna: RCMP

VANCOUVER -

Weeks into what has already proven to be a demanding wildfire season in B.C., someone deliberately started a fire in the tinder-dry Okanagan.

A grass fire was reported Tuesday evening in Kelowna's Glenmore Highlands neighbourhood, the local RCMP detachment said.

Firefighters were able to put out the blaze on a slope off Long Ridge Drive, but Mounties were called to investigate its origin.

The RCMP said in a statement Wednesday that it appeared the fire was human-caused, and that a team is "actively investigating."

The detachment did not say what evidence led its officers to believe it was deliberately set, but called it "suspicious" in nature.

The RCMP is asking any witnesses to come forward to report suspicious activity in the area.

No one was injured, but at a time when conditions are dry and high winds are in the forecast, fires of any size can be dangerous in the area.

The entire province falls under sweeping fire bans, which include the prohibition of camp fires.

As of Wednesday morning, the BC Wildfire Service reported there were 295 wildfires burning in B.C., 15 of which were sparked in the last two days.

Nearly one-third of the fires that are currently active are considered out of control, and the Kamloops Fire Centre, which includes Kelowna, is dealing with the most active fires (113) of the five centres.

The majority of these are believed to have been sparked by lighting in the area.

So far this season, B.C. has seen 1,163 known wildfires.