By Pete McIntyre

Storm causes new wildfires

Jul 23, 2019 | 11:02 AM

Lightning is believed to be the cause of two new small wildfires in the North Okanagan.

One near Cooke Creek northeast of Enderby is spot sized, meaning under one hectare, which has a helicopter and three personnel responding as it’s listed as out of control.

“Out of control is one of our classifications of stages. It’s the initial one while crews are trying to get a handle on it,” Taylor MacDonald, information officer from the B.C. Wildfire Service, told Vernon Matters.

Another new fire is in Nobel Canyon in the Coldstream area, which is spot sized and under control.

It’s also believed to be lightning-caused, with three provincial firefighters on scene today.

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There is also three new small fires in the Osoyoos area in the South Okanagan, two of which are being held and one is under control.

“All three of those are spot sized and we do have six BCWS personnel responding to two of them today,” MacDonald added.

MacDonald said there was ‘quite a few’ lightning strikes from a storm Monday night that went through the Monashees area and the eastern part of the Kamloops Fire Centre.

by Pete McIntyre

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