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Lightning sparked Vernon wildfire

Ministry of Forests has ruled out human activity as a cause in the July 30 blaze
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The brush fire near the Tavistock development

People did not cause a wildfire in Vernon's Okanagan Landing area.

The Ministry of Forests has concluded its investigation into the July 30 blaze on Tronson Road near the Tavistock Development.

"The fire was lightning caused," said Max Birkner, fire information officer.

The fire broke out at about 8:30 p.m. on a hill and ground crews from the B.C. Wildfire Service were brought in to help Vernon firefighters. The blaze was also bucketed by helicopter.

Vernon firefighters, with assistance from Coldstream, monitored the scene throughout the weekend.

An evacuation order for about 60 residents of Adventure Bay was rescinded Sunday morning and no structures were damaged by the fire.

Firefighters demobilized the response scene Tuesday night.

"We got our hoses and port-a-tank out of there," said Keith Green, fire chief, adding that there shouldn't be any further hot spots.

"There was heavy rain Tuesday so I'm pretty confident (the fire is out)."

Along with lightning, the B.C. Wildfire Service has been coping with human-caused blazes.

There were 38 abandoned campfires located in the Kamloops Fire Centre over the long weekend.

"We ask people to prevent human-caused fires so we can direct resources to lightning-caused fires," said Birkner.