Photo BC Wildfire Service
Firefighters in British Columbia are preparing for more challenging conditions early this week, as windy, hot and dry weather could fuel the flames of three large wildfires.
Kevin Skrepnik, chief fire information officer for the B.C. Wildfire Service, says fires at Allie Lake, Xusum Creek and Tommy Lakes have remained fairly stable over the weekend, but that could change.
He says the fire burning at Allie Lake, 55 kilometres northwest of Kamloops, remains out of control across about 20 square kilometres. The Xusum Creek fire, 35 kilometres west of Lilloet, is holding at about five square kilometres and has been 25 per cent contained.
In the Peace region, Skrepnik says only one fire of note remains in the remote area of Tommy Lakes, but it's a big one at over 200 square kilometres.
In addition to those three blazes, which have each prompted local evacuation orders, B.C. Wildfire Services personnel helped local crews fight a grass fire that broke out in West Kelowna near the Mission Hills winery on Saturday night.
That fire also prompted some brief tactical evacuations, but Skrepnik says crews were mopping up by Sunday afternoon and everyone would be allowed back in their homes by the night. Skrepnik says some rain forecast for the southern part of the province may bring some good news around Wednesday, but noted those forecasts can change rapidly.
"We haven't seen a ton of growth on our current fires, which is good, but still not really any significant relief in the weather either," he said.
