Lower East Adams Lake fire (file photo/BCWS)

By Liam Verster

Allowing More Fire Suppression

Wet weather puts damper on Adams Lake wildfire

Aug 10, 2023 | 2:18 PM

The recent cool, wet weather has had some positive impacts on the fires in the north end of the Kamloops Fire Centre.

Cliff Chapman, director of operations for the B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS), stated during the provincial wildfire and drought update Thursday, August 10, that there was measurable rainfall within the Adams Complex recently, which is the area that includes the Lower East Adams Lake, Rossmore Lake and Bush Creek wildfires.

“What [the precipitation is] going to do is, it really allows us the next, probably 48 to 72 hours, just ahead of this heat wave setting up, it allows us to have successful suppression efforts on the ground and from the air,” Chapman said.

“As we know, we’ve been fairly smoked in in the Interior for the last number of days, flying aircraft has been a little bit more challenging with the visibility problems. So now we’ve got yesterday, today, tomorrow, and probably even into the weekend just ahead of this heat, to really have an impact on the ground.”

Chapman added “the weather has given us a really strong chance to try to steer that fire away from the residences and ideally also get containment on it.”

Council grants

Vernon to distribute over $50k in Council Discretionary Grants, $20K to the food bank

Dec 14, 2025

Possible firearm involved

One person apprehended in connection with suspicious activity in Coldstream

Dec 13, 2025

Fatal Collision, Highway Closed

One person dead in crash near Revelstoke

Dec 13, 2025

The Columbia Shuswap Regional District says the four to six millimetres of rain received over the past 24 hours allowed crews to continue working on building a fuel-free fire guard on the fire’s southern flank.

All the evacuation orders and alerts remain in place.

Chapman noted the Adams Lake fire did move closer to nearby properties earlier in the week but no structures have been impacted or lost as of Thursday morning.

The Wildfire Service has 43 wildland firefighters, 38 structure protection resources and 18 pieces of heavy equipment assigned to the Adams Lake fire, as well as 13 helicopters and an incident management team assigned to the Adams Complex.

As of 11:15 a.m. Thursday, the Lower East Adams Lake wildfire was an estimated 6,505 hectares in size and still classified as out of control.