(UPDATE: August 1 @ 7:45 p.m.) – A flurry of new fires have sparked in the Kamloops Fire Centre over the past day.
In the past 24 hours, upwards of 35 fires have ignited in the Kamloops Fire Centre with that number being fairly dynamic, says Nicole Bonnett.
"With lightning fire starts, the fire isn't necessarily an instantaneous thing. It could take a couple hours, a day, a couple days for a lightning fire to pop up just depending on what the conditions are like," explained Bonnett.
We're starting to see an uptick in #BCwildfire activity across #BC as a result of recent lightning. Pictured below is where it has struck over the past 24 hours.
— BC Wildfire Service (@BCGovFireInfo) August 1, 2018
Yesterday alone, 132 new wildfires started. As of this morning there are 305 fires across BC that we're responding to pic.twitter.com/G9MWnY2l5L
BCWS reported that 132 new wildfires were started yesterday alone, setting the new total of wildfires in B.C. to 305 as of this morning.
BCWS has been assigning resources to the new fires as necessary.
Despite several of the fires being within view of nearby residences, none of the new fires in the Kamloops Fire Centre are threatening homes or communities at this time.
(Original Story: July 31 @ 11:55 p.m.)
The Kamloops Fire Centre, which encompasses the Thompson-Okanagan region, has been the victim of several more fires Tuesday night.
The BC Wildfire Service map has revealed numerous new red dots pinned haphazardly throughout the area with Salmon Arm being a hotspot developing seven fires over the size of 0.01 hectares in its vicinity between Monday and Tuesday.
Near Kamloops, the Robbins Range Road fire began on Tuesday southeast of the city in overlooking Highway 1 and Highway 97. BCWS suspects the fire was caused by lightning.
Photo Credit: BCWS
West of Kelowna, two fires have sparked on either side of Highway 97, the Windy Lake fire and the Sunset Lake fire on Tuesday evening. Both wildfires are suspected to have been caused by lightning.
Photo Credit: BCWS
The Isintok Lake fire ignited northwest of Penticton — BCWS believes the fire was caused by lighting — with another appearing south of the city near Okanagan Falls and Highway 97, titled the Green Lake Road fire.
NowMedia will update information on the new wildfires as they develop.
