B.C. firefighting crews wrestling new Penticton wildfire

PENTICTON (NEWS 1130) — B.C.’s wildfire crews are tending to a new blaze near Penticton.

The Skaha Lake Wildfire was reported Saturday afternoon and is now approximately 12 hectares in size, about six kilometres southwest of the Interior city.

B.C. Wildfire Service Fire Information Officer Taylor MacDonald says the fire is currently classified as “out of control.”

“We have 23 personnel that are responding and we have multiple air tankers, as well as skimmers that are responding,” she says. “We have helicopters that are available to respond once the skimmers and air tankers are have completed their objectives, so we just don’t want to crowd their space with too many aerial resources on site.”

As of Saturday, the number of wildfires in B.C. has fallen below 240 as firefighting crews are aided by cooler temperatures and rain.

However, Macdonald says the favourable weather that’s been helping firefighters may be coming to an end soon.

“We’ve seen some cooler temperatures, as well as conditions, over the last little bit here, but we are moving into a little bit of a warmer period — things are starting to warm up again, we’re seeing temperatures of mid to high 20s.”

MacDonald is warning swimmers and boaters in the Penticton area to be careful.

“A reminder to all water recreationalists, just to remain clear of all water skimming aircraft which can include helicopters as well as skimmers. We just want to make sure that these resources can safely pick up water from the lake surface and not be hampered by any looky-loos who want to get close for a photo.”

Emergency Management B.C. says most of the blazes across the province are in the Kamloops, southeast and Prince George fire centres.

It says there are around 35 evacuation orders across the province along with 83 evacuation alerts, which means people should be ready to leave on short notice.

The wildfire service says there have been more than 1,500 wildfires since the season began on April 1, with more than 8,600 square kilometres of land charred.

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