Wind causes Kamloops-area fires to grow; still no imminent concern for structures

KAMLOOPS — If they got their wishes, crews working on the three major Kamloops-area wildfires would see a change in wind direction in the coming days.

The Ross Moore Lake wildfire south of Kamloops, as well as the Bush Creek East and Lower East Adams Lake wildfires surrounding Adams Lake have seen increases in their mapped size Tuesday (Aug. 1).

Fire Information Officer Forrest Tower with the B.C. Wildfire Service says that’s from a combination of fire growth and updated mapping.

“We haven’t had an updated perimeter for the entire fire until yesterday,” Tower told CFJC Today. “As we get the updated fire growth from the different areas of each fire, that gets sent to our team and then we compile that into a complete perimeter. That growth is definitely not just from yesterday to today — it’s several days of growth.”

The Ross Moore Lake wildfire is now listed at 4,157 hectares, the Bush Creek wildfire is measured at 982 hectares and the Lower East Adams Lake fire is at 2,527 hectares.

None of the fires have moved closer to structures or infrastructure.

The Columbia Shuswap Regional District has rescinded some of the evacuation alerts for properties near the Lower East Adams Lake wildfire.

The 55 properties no longer on alert are in the Woolford Point Estates and Enns Reach areas. Thirty-seven properties remain on evacuation alert.

Breezy days have helped the flames reach new stands of trees, especially on the Ross Moore Lake fire, where the majority of the fire’s activity is taking place on the northwest corner.

“When we do see any winds, that’s what’s drastically increasing fire behaviour,” said Tower. “Typically, those are picking up into the afternoon period, so that’s our peak burning point. Ideally, if we could see a reduction in wind speed and/or favourable wind direction, that would be conducive to any ignition that we could do off of our guards.”

The Ross Moore Lake fire is still throwing a lot of smoke toward Kamloops. Tower says unfortunately, that is expected to continue through most of the week.

“We are still seeing increased activity into the afternoon on all three fires, so likely that smoke will continue due to increased daytime temperatures and we still our experiencing winds that are keeping these fires active,” he said.

Lac Le Jeune Provincial Park has reopened to camping and day use, but Tower reminds users it is still under evacuation alert, so users should be ready to leave at short notice.