A helicopter surveys the Mount Law wildfire, just above Preston Road and Glenrosa Road in West Kelowna on Wednesday, Aug. 18. (Aaron Hemens/Capital News)

‘Good progress’ being made against Mount Law wildfire burning near West Kelowna

Cooler temperatures and rain are assisting crews as they work towards containing the blaze

  • Aug. 31, 2021 12:00 a.m.

Cooler temperatures and rain are assisting crews as they work towards containing the Mount Law wildfire burning near West Kelowna.

BC Wildfire Service said in a Tuesday morning update that good progress continues to be made against the blaze, which is measured at 976 hectares and is suspected to be human-caused.

A small spot fire that sparked on Sunday near Highway 97C has since been contained and extinguished. Crews will continue to mop up inwards from the fire perimeter on the north and west side of the fire.

READ MORE: Light flurries descend upon parts of the Okanagan

On the fire’s east side, fire crews conducted a direct attack on the fire’s edge with suppression activities. Crews were successful in a small planned ignition that was conducted near Drought Creek on Sunday, which will help reinforce a guard located on the east side of the fire.

On Monday, an evacuation order was entirely lifted. Central Okanagan Emergency Operations said favourable weather and lack of growth in the blaze meant the last property that remained on evacuation order, 3250 Highway 97, has been downgraded to an evacuation alert.

An evacuation alert remains in place, and a map of affected properties is available at cordemergency.ca.

Seventy BC Wildfire personnel were on-site Wednesday, supported by members of the agency’s incident management team, five pieces of heavy equipment and eight helicopters.

The fire is suspected human-caused and will be investigated.

READ MORE: UPDATE: Evacuation order rescinded for Mount Law wildfire


@aaron_hemensaaron.hemens@kelownacapnews.com

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