Erie looking red sky in Armstrong Sunday night caused by smoke and ash from White Rock Lake and other wildfires (Vernon Matters photo)

By Pete McIntyre

White Rock Lake Wildfire Update

UPDATE: Aggressive behaviour on White Rock Lake fire, unconfirmed reports of structure damage

Aug 16, 2021 | 6:45 AM

UPDATE 6:30 a.m. Aug. 16

There is no update as yet this morning on the White Rock Lake wildfire from the BC Wildfire Service, but that is expected later this morning.

At last report, just before 11 Sunday night, the fire was 62,273 hectares and showing aggressive fire behaviour on the northeast flank north of Naswhito Creek in the Westside Road area and  continuous aggressive behaviour was expected overnight.

There were no new evacuation orders or alerts issued by local governments or the Okanagan Indian Band since Sunday night.

There are unconfirmed reports on social media of structure damage in the Westside Road area, including the Little Kingdom store, but that has not been confirmed by local governments or the OKIB.

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I literally grew up here, my mom worked here my whole life and it was my first job…our little rez store was a staple…now a couple walls remain 😭 Little Kingdom, its been real#okib #whiterocklakefire pic.twitter.com/KKws1gFFba

— Kelsie Kilawna (Marchand) (@kelsiemarchand) August 16, 2021

One sliver of positive news is the weather forecast which calls for clouds and a 70 percent chance of showers late this afternoon with risk of thunderstorms. Wind becoming northwest 20 km/h this afternoon with a high of 25 and showers with the risk of thunderstorms tonight.

==

UPDATE Aug. 15 10:45 p.m. from BC Wildfire Service:

Aggressive fire behaviour was observed on the northeast flank north of Naswhito Creek where the fire has spotted 2.5km across Six Mile Creek.

A five hectare fire was detected northeast of Six Mile Creek and continuous aggressive wildfire behaviour is expected overnight into tomorrow [Monday].

==

UPDATE 8:35 p.m.

B.C. Wildfire Service said the White Rock Lake wildfire had increased fire activity north of the Naswhito Creek area Sunday evening.

“It’s burning, and has been through the evening, quite aggressively,” said Fire Information Officer Forrest Tower.

“There was a two, to two-point-five kilometre, spot fire that occurred across the Six Mile Creek drainage, so it kind of instantly caused a five hectare spot fire that has continued to burn.”

While Tower said the fire is not moving at a ‘significant rate of spread’ towards the northeast, the fire is quite active along the northeast and east flanks, as well as in the south areas.

He adds air tankers were deployed to work on the fire from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the skimmers that were launched at 2 p.m. finished their operations in the late evening when visibility grounded them.

“We aren’t able to operate aircraft right now (7:10 p.m.) with the very dramatic smoky skies that we are currently experiencing.”

He also said crews deployed earlier in the day were still out on the front line, and expected to be out until they lose visibility.

“And we have three shifts going on right now in terms of overnight crews, so there will be a 24 hour response on this one, including our structure protection.”

Tower goes on to say the smoky conditions in Vernon and the area is mainly due to the White Rock Lake wildfire, though it’s also being exacerbated by smoke coming off a few other fires and being blown over by the wind.

Though the smoke appears to be concerning, Tower said it has some positive aspects.

“This smoke actually does diminish fire behaviour. It kind of increases the humidity of the air, it doesn’t allow the sun to get direct access to the ground and heat it up. It does ground our air resources, but thick smoke like this does have a very notable effect on reducing fire behaviour. It’s not fun to live in, and hopefully won’t be around for too long, but it does give us a bit of break in terms of fire activity as long as the smoke sticks around.”

The wind is also expected to die down overnight, and the temperatures are expected to cool over the coming week, which Tower said will hopefully slow the rate of spread of which the fire is moving.