Wildfire crews faced with windy, dry conditions

KAMLOOPS (NEWS 1130) – Fire crews continue to try and bring a large wildfire under control in BC’s interior, however they’re being faced with some challenging conditions.

Winds fanned the Allie Lake wildfire burning near Kamloops on Saturday.

“Late [Saturday] afternoon the winds did pick up, so we did see a bit of growth in the fire,” explains Fire Information Officer Heather Rice. “It continues to move in a bit of a north-easterly direction away from Allie Lake. It wasn’t a significant growth but those winds continue to challenge the crews.

Rice says the heat and low-relative humidity are also playing a role in how fast the fire grows and spreads, but adds winds are the most challenging conditions to deal with.’

“Because it can be so sudden and so unpredictable,” she tells NEWS 1130. “But the crews are working hard at establishing guard lines along the flanks and we had skimmers on the fire late [Saturday] afternoon as well, assisting with the helicopter bucketing.”

The BC Wildfire Service has added some heavy equipment and resources to help fight this fire.

The Allie Lake wildfire is still considered out of control, and is currently sitting at an estimated 2,200 hectares in size.

The cause of this blaze is still under investigation. “And I will remind people there is now an area restriction in that location so people are to remain well away from the fire so it doesn’t interfere with out efforts.”

A number of evacuation orders and alerts are also still in place around the Thompson-Nicola Regional District. You can find information about them here.

Xusum Creek wildfire

Meantime, crews continue to make progress on another wildfire burning in this province, this one burning about 35 kilometres west of Lillooet near Anderson Lake.

Though the Xusum Creek fire is considered out of control, crews have been able to contain about 25 per cent of it, according to the latest update by the BC Widlfire Service.

This blaze is estimated to be about 500 hectares in size and has forced some evacuations in the Squamish-Lillooet regional district.

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