New fire complicates situation in South Okanagan

Thunderstorms that were forecast in the area of the Keremeos Creek wildfire about 20 kilometres southwest of Penticton failed to materialize Thursday night, but crews still had their hands full with a new fire in the area early Friday.

At approximately 1 a.m., a crane truck went off Highway 3 about 17 kilometres west of Osoyoos and caught fire. Flames travelled up the steep slope of Richter Mountain and had scorched 30 hectares as of Friday afternoon.

However, the fire is now in rocky terrain with sparse fuel, and between two areas that burned previously, according to Karley Desrosiers, a spokeswoman for the BC Wildfire Service.

Out of an abundance of caution, the Regional District of OkanaganSimilkameen issued an evacuation alert for 29 properties in the area.

Meanwhile, 273 properties – including all of Apex Mountain Resort – remained under evacuation order as of Friday afternoon, while another 399 properties remained under alert as a result of the Keremeos Creek wildfire, which was pegged at 6,700 hectares, unchanged from Wednesday.

Fire activity has calmed along the Highway 3A corridor, which reopened to traffic Friday, said Desrosiers, who noted officials were relieved that thunderstorms forecast for Thursday and Friday gave the area a pass.

“Those systems didn’t really move into the area of the Keremeos Creek wildfire. They were kind of further east, so no significant impacts from winds or anything,” said Desrosiers.

But there’s still no indication when the evacuation order for Apex Mountain Resort – which was about five kilometres from the fire perimeter as of Thursday – will be dropped.

“In terms of fire behaviour, that northwest corner of the fire is where we’re still seeing the majority of the fire activity and where the terrain and the slopes and such are challenging ground crews and equipment, so, at this time we’re not at a comfortable place with the fire activity to recommend that (order be rescinded) quite yet,” said Desrosiers.

The weather forecast for the days ahead calls for hot, dry conditions beginning later this weekend and the potential for another low-pressure system to arrive late next week.

Keremeos Creek was the largest of seven wildfires of note burning across B.C. as of Friday afternoon. The next-largest was the Briggs Creek blaze near Kaslo, which was listed at 1,700 hectares.