Despite aggressive fire activity within the White Rock Lake wildfire Sunday night, no damage or loss of structures was reported within affected areas of the Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD).
This was noted by the CSRD in a Monday, Aug. 16 update on wildfire activity within the regional district. As of Monday morning, the White Rock Lake wildfire was estimated to be 62,273 hectares.
According to the CSRD update, increased fire activity overnight resulted in the blaze increasing in size along all fire perimeters. This growth prompted the CSRD to issue an evacuation order for all addresses at Pinaus Lake and areas of the Sweetsbridge and Cedar Hill neighbourhoods east to the regional district’s boundary. An evacuation alert covering Falkland was expanded to include Glenemma, the Yankee Flats Road area north of 1924 Yankee Flats Rd., and the Salmon River Road area north of 1912 Salmon River Rd.
As of Monday morning, the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) was reassessing containment lines for breaches as crews, equipment and aerial resources continued to defend remaining guards and containment lines. Evacuation orders and alerts remained in effect within four neighbouring regional districts, on Splatsin and Okanagan Indian Band land, the City of Armstrong, the Township of Spallumcheen and the City of Vernon.
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Much of Sicamous remained on evacuation alert Monday as the nearby Two Mile Road had grown to 1,619 ha.
The night prior, on Aug. 15, the fire grew to the north due to increased wind. This was in addition to fire activity in the southwest. To increase containment and limit growth, the BCWS said it was going to establish a sprinkler line in preparation for hand ignitions.
According to the BCWS, crews made excellent progress on the west side of the fire, securing the flank above Sicamous. Crews continued to work on the south and north sides of the fire, wrapping around towards the east with machine guards and hand-cleared guards.
To the north of Sicamous, the out-of-control Crazy Creek Gorge FSR fire had grown to 4,001 hectares.
Structural protection was in place in Pete Martin Bay, Queest Village and on structures south of Queest in Narrows Village. Hand ignitions were completed in the vicinity of Pete Martin Bay, and crews continued to build a guard from the six-kilometre mark on the 2420 Road, moving upslope, to secure the area.
Despite the higher winds, none of the containment lines around the Crazy Creek fire were breached.
Seymour Arm continued to be on evacuation alert due to the out-of-control Hunakwa Lake wildfire, which as of Aug. 16 was estimated to be 3,600 ha. With Sunday’s increased winds, areas of concern were in the west and east, where Rank 2 (low vigour) and 3 (moderately vigorous) fires were observed. However, there was limited fire growth overnight.
West of Seymour Arm, the Momich Lake fire grew to 16,534 hectares, the result of it connecting with the Michael Creek wildfire northeast of Adams Lake. An evacuation order was in effect for 11 properties in the Thompson Nicola Regional District.
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