Wildfire conditions remain stable in B.C., although several new blazes sparked

KAMLOOPS, B.C. — Luck was on the side of firefighters in British Columbia on Sunday as a windstorm failed to stir up the scores of wildfires that have been threatening communities across the province. The BC Wildfire Service said there was no significant growth of the 156 blazes currently burning. Nineteen new wildfires were sparked, with nine caused by lightning, five blamed on human activity and the rest under investigation. Although the wind storm didn’t kick up the fires, it did topple trees and bring down power lines in B.C.’s Shuswap region as well as around Golden and Revelstoke.

``It was like Armageddon for about 10 minutes. You just felt helpless,’’ said Jon Keen, who was visiting Shuswap Lake, about 100 kilometres east of Kamloops, when the storm hit. ``Big tall trees just started bending and snapping in half,’’ he added, describing a tree falling on his cabin and another coming down on a truck parked nearby, while a third narrowly missed the family’s camper.