With an estimated 1,252,000 hectares burned this wildfire season in B.C., about 4.2 per cent of that has burned in the Kamloops Fire Centre.
BC Wildfire does not track hectares burned by region, but does have a cost breakdown attributed to the Kamloops Fire Centre of an estimated $41 million for 2018, though fire information office Kevin Skrepnek said that does not reflect how much was spent.
“It could be higher, but a lot of costs are allocated regionally, not at the provincial level,” he said.
The total cost to date for the BC Wildfire Service for strictly fire suppression is $360 million.
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There have been 417 fires to date in the Kamloops Fire Centre, with 82 blazes currently burning. No new fires have been reported since Wednesday.
According to Skrepnek, the increase in rain for the area has helped to suppress the flames.
“Certainly those areas to the south in the Placer complex – those areas are still burning, and they have not seen that rain or not as much as elsewhere,” he said.
The Snowy Mountain fire grew to 17,068 hectares from 16,414 hectares on Tuesday, but it’s only being monitored from the air and not actively fought on the ground.
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“There is another fire in the Cathedral Parks area, the Cool Creek fire, that is more active and we have crews on the ground fighting it today with heavy equipment.”
Crews on scene of the Old Tom Creek and Cool Creek wildfires will instead be observing the growth on Snowy Mountain for the time being.
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