Keremeos Creek wildfire: Tactics change as temperatures drop

With a change of weather, tactics have started to shift for fire crews battling the Keremeos Creek wildfire burning in the B.C. Interior.

The fire has continued to grow, now burning at 68 square kilometres, but recent updates show no new properties are threatened.

Bryan Zandberg with the BC Wildfire Service says crews were planning to continue controlled burns but cooler temperatures have them pivoting.

“We’ve got some precipitation up on the fire … and that just changes your ignition plan,” explained Zandberg. “We’ve sort of shifted some of our operations just to a lot more mop up, cooling down really key areas of the fire, again, with the objective of getting people back into their homes.”

Zandberg says hard to reach areas are still creating challenging situations for crews.

“In some of this steeper, deeper country, it’s going to take a bit of time,” said Zandberg. “It’s different firefighting techniques that we use up there. In some areas, we’re having to have a repel crew go in rappelling from a helicopter, because the terrain is either steep or very forested.”

(Photo credit: BC Wildfire Services)

Zandberg adds while the fire is slowly growing, the reduced speed of it’s growth has eased the difficulty for staff.

“It’s not something that’s challenging existing guards where we have them. And so, it’s quieter, and that’s a fantastic thing.”

Related links:

• Controlled burns play key role in Keremeos Creek wildfire response

• Stable weather allows fire crews to focus on containment of B.C. wildfires

• Unpredictable winds make wildfires an erratic adversary: experts

However he adds there could be some new fires in the area as lightning strikes are in the forecast for the next two days.

“I don’t know exactly how that’s going to play out but we could have … thousands of lightning strikes that could lead to new starts, and then the province will have to respond accordingly,” said Zandberg.

He hopes a stretch of Highway 3A will reopen soon and evacuation orders will be lifted if containment lines stay wet and secure.

“A lot of work has been going on just to get everything really cool down in there for this transition to getting people back,” said Zandberg.

The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) rescinded the evacuation order for selected properties along Highway 3A on Wednesday.

“Evacuation Orders have been rescinded for properties from Twin Lakes to just north of Olalla. This includes selected properties accessed homes along Sheep Creek Rd. Highway 3A will remain closed for through traffic,” said a RDOS statement.

It added that Olalla, Apex and sections of Green Mountain Rd remain on evacuation order and the alert for the Twin Lakes area and White Lake Road has been removed.

All the latest updates can be found on the BC Wildfire Services dashboard.