Firefighters quick to get handle on pair of North Shuswap fires

A piece of machinery was the cause of one of two fires that started late Tuesday afternoon in the North Shuswap.

Around 5:22 p.m. on July 18, the Scotch Creek-Lee Creek Fire Department responded to a fire at a property along Whisper Mountain Drive in Lee Creek.

Sean Coubrough, deputy regional fire chief with the Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD), said the fire had started in an excavator.

“It didn’t spread too much into the wildland… but the fire department was there on time and were able to extinguish it before it transitioned to a wildfire,” said Coubrough.

A BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) five-person initial attack crew also responded to help prevent that transition. As of Wednesday morning the fire was classified as under control.

Also late Tuesday afternoon, a BCWS initial attack crew responded to a new blaze discovered northeast of Anglemont, the Evelyn Creek fire, and was back at it Wednesday morning when the .3 hectare fire was brought from out of control status to being held.

As of Wednesday morning, July 19, the Bush Creek East wildfire, west of Adams Lake, continued to be classified as out of control but showed no overnight growth, remaining at 310 hectares. A BCWS spokesperson said an inversion onsite was holding the blaze at a Rank 1 smouldering ground fire, and that it posed no threat to structures.

Read more: Update: Progress made on fires near Sicamous, Bush Creek East blaze grows

Read more: Second fire in 9 days at Kelowna’s Glenmore Landfill

To the east, the out-of-control Lower East Adams Lake wildfire also showed no overnight growth, remaining at 60 hectares. BCWS said there was a little bit of activity with this fire with the inversion lifting. To the northwest, on the east side of Adams Lake, the out-of-control North Honeymoon FSR fire also showed no growth, holding at 2.5 hectares. BCWS said Wednesday the fire stayed within the guard and a four-person crew was responding.

Several lightning-caused wildfires that ignited east of Sicamous were either out or under control, with the exception of two that continued to burn out of control. One was the spot-sized Crazy Creek wildfire located in proximity to the Eagle Pass Recreation Site. BCWS said it was monitoring this fire, which was burning at a high elevation and posed no risk to structures or values. Northeast of that, the North Fork FSR fire was also spot sized, with a four-person initial attack crew responding.

The CSRD and Shuswap Emergency Program issued a media release Tuesday updating the public on the wildfire response in the region. It said should there be any renewed threat to public safety, updates will be provided on the CSRD website, the BC Wildfire Service website, as well as on the CSRD and Shuswap Emergency Program social media platforms.

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