Lightning from a storm that tracked north of Salmon Arm Wednesday morning sparked a wildfire about seven kilometres southwest of Seymour Arm.
Kevin Strepnek, information office with the Kamloops Fire Centre, said a Rapattack team was sent in to fight the fire in the remote Blueberry Creek Area.
The storm came on the heels of a Monday evening storm that spawned many power outages.
B.C. Hydro’s Dag Sharman said a total of 16 outages affected 5,580 Shuswap customers – some for as long as six hours.
“An outage from 7:41 to 8:28 p.m. south of Sunnybrae Canoe Point Road that cut power to 2,900 more customers was the result of a bird touching two power lines simultaneously,” said Sharman, noting crews worked throughout the night to restore power.
The Salmon Arm Fire Department responded to six calls during the storm – several involving ringing alarms set off by power outages.
Firefighters from Gleneden’s Hall #4 responded to a hydro pole fire just after 8 p.m.
Shuswap Search and Rescue was called out to help, with situations being resolved before teams could get to the scene.
With the fire danger rating in the moderate to high range, people are asked to be careful in the forests. Only campfires are permitted at this time.
