Nk'Mip Creek grows to 2,000 hectares, Interior Health clinics cancelled, power out

The Nk’Mip wildfire has almost doubled in size in less than six hours to 2,000 hectares.

Dozens of other properties across the region have been evacuated or put on alert due to the swiftly moving blaze.

Interior Health has cancelled its COVID-19 vaccination clinics for July 20 and 21, and is currently working with municipalities, the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen and BC Wildfire Service to ensure plans are in place to protect patients and clients from the Nk’Mip Creek wildfire.

No Interior Health facilities are currently under evacuation alert and no patients or residents have been proactively evacuated at this time.

In the event of an evacuation, anyone wishing to confirm their loved one’s evacuated location can call 1-877-442-2001.

FortisBC also had to shut off power during the initial blaze, and around 30 customers are still without power in the area due to the risk to the transmission lines.

During the fire, parts of the grid have been de-energized to stay safe, which has reduced FortisBC’s capacity. As a result, they are asking for customers to reduce their energy use in the area from 4 p.m. until 8.

FortisBC’s current list of outages can be found at https://outages.fortisbc.com/Outages, and to report an outage or downed lines you can call 1-866-436-7847.

BC Wildfire keeps a dashboard map where you can find information on current wildfire activity at https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/wildfire-status.

The FireWork Forecast shows maps of predicted smoke impacts over the next 48 hours.

Interior Health reminds everyone to make preparations for wildfires, and smoky skies as air quality deteriorate by visiting https://www.interiorhealth.ca/YourEnvironment/Emergency/Wildfires/Pages/default.aspx.

To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.

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