Strong winds cause B.C. wildfires to grow overnight; more in forecast

Vancouver -

Weather conditions are not helping firefighters on the front lines of wildfires burning throughout the province.

In a tweet on Sunday, the BC Wildfire Service said it was “anticipating another challenging day of fire behaviour and growth,” due to increased winds and dry conditions.

Strong wind has proven to be a problem over the weekend in the fight against the Tremont Creek wildfire, west of Kamloops. The blaze grew 20,000 hectares in just 24 hours.

As of Sunday afternoon, it covered 63,000 hectares of land. So far, nearly 28,000 properties on evacuation alert, and 6,300 properties are under evacuation order, including the entire District of Logan Lake. The fire has reached the town, but no structures have been destroyed.

“We did have ground crews working hard (Saturday) in the flank where the Logan Lake district is, and they were able to have structure protection in the area,” said Taylor MacDonald, fire information officer for the BC Wildfire Service.

On Sunday morning, air crews were able to douse the flames from above. By the afternoon, however, the smoke had thickened to the point where air support had to be grounded, leaving ground crews to fight the fire.

Meanwhile, in Lytton – a village already ravaged by an earlier wildfire – a second evacuation is now in place. Structures are being threatened by the Mowhowkam Creek and George Road fires, which are burning between Lytton and Boston Bar, east of Highway 1.

Farther east, the White Rock Lake wildfire continues to burn out of control west of Vernon. Thick smoke and ash covered much of the city on Sunday as winds picked up in the region.

“You constantly feel dirty,” said Kerry Taylor, who lives in a rural area near Vernon.

“You can’t breathe. It’s actually terrifying to look outside.”

The White Rock Lake blaze has put parts of Vernon on evacuation alert since Aug. 6. High winds have caused the 62,000-hectare fire to spread. Thankfully, officials say, the flames are moving toward unpopulated areas.

“Where there are communities and people, we’ve had a lot of time in the past few days to put in work, in terms of guards and structure protection,” explained Forrest Tower, fire information officer for the BC Wildfire Service.

Taylor says it feels as though her family is living in limbo, uncertain of whether the fire will move in their direction. As a precaution, many of her family’s belongings have been moved to a storage unit. She, her husband and their 9-year-old daughter are ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Taylor describes the smoky air as unliveable.

“I used to sniff my daughter’s head and would smell sunshine coming off her head because she was playing outside,” Taylor said. “Now, it smells like smoke.”

She adds the Interior is currently dealing with two crises: wildfires and rising cases of COVID-19. Because her daughter is too young for a COVID-19 vaccination, they’re keeping their distance from others.

“It’s really hard for families,” she said. “We’re all isolated, and we’re all stuck inside. It’s terrifying.”

The B.C. Wildfire Service expects to see increased winds across southern B.C. in the coming days.

“It’ll be more of a dynamic situation in the next 72 hours than it has in the past week,” said Tower. “We’re always urging people to keep up to the most recent information.”