As of Thursday, May 17, there are two flare-ups within Elephant Hill Wildfire perimeter; one is contained and the other is believed to be out, according to Fire Information Officer Natasha Broznitsky.
“The one near Pressy Lake is not really a wildfire, it’s more of a pile of sawdust that was reignited from the Elephant Hill fire last year. There isn’t a risk of it escaping it’s contained to the pile of sawdust.”
There are two initial attack crews (six people) and two pieces of heavy equipment trying to dig it up and put that pile out, she says.
The other is listed just above the Bonaparte River.
“That fire as well is well within the perimeter of the Elephant Hill fire as well and basically what happened with that one is that some logging was being done in the area and the crew found a two-foot by two-foot spot that had reignited from the fire last year. Because they had heavy equipment on site, they basically took an excavator and more or less extinguished it.”
That spot is still listed because the BC Wildfire Service will be sending out a crew to make sure it is fully extinguished, she adds.
Broznitsky says that while they haven’t recorded any positive strikes (strikes that hit the ground) in the Horse Lake area, there have been some lightning strikes reported to the east in the Kamloops Fire Centre.
Should any strikes occur, they do have an initial attack crew and a unit crew on standby in 100 Mile House, she says.
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