Highway 3A reopens near Keremeos, B.C. as new fires spring up across southern B.C.

Improved fire conditions allowed officials to reopen highway 3A near Keremeos, BC, to traffic on Friday, but a series of thunderstorms left wildfire crews facing some New threat in southern BC

Crews have been holding the 6.7-square-mile Keremeos Creek wildfire for several days now, and the BC Fire Service says the highway is no longer threatened between Upper Bench Road and the National Highway intersection. Highway 97.

“This is the right time for a reminder that 3A reopens at 10am but our crews are still on the road, so for your own safety, slow down, watch out for the firefighters and don’t stop. stopped to take pictures,” said firefighter Shaelee Stearns.

Residents of the Olalla community were allowed to return home on Thursday, but evacuation orders for 273 properties and evacuation warnings for 428 others remained in effect.

A few kilometers south along Highway 3, crews were busy dealing with the new 40-acre Richter Creek wildfire.

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Keremeos Fire Department personnel and 33 BC Wildfire Service were deployed to the suspected man-made fire, which is burning about 17 kilometers east of Osoyoos.

The Okanagan Similkameen area has issued an evacuation warning for homes in the Sumas Road area.

Meanwhile, Thursday’s dramatic thunderstorms, which caused more than 2,600 lightning bolts in the Southern Interior, led to at least 10 new fires in the Southeast Fire Center.

The bushfire service said: “Ground personnel and aviation resources are strategically deployed to new incidents in order of priority as they are discovered.

“As of this morning, these newly discovered fires were the initial target of the attack; which means they can be directly attacked. “

The new fires come as Environment Canada issues another severe thunderstorm warning for southern BC, which runs from Similkameen to the province’s eastern border.

The Forest Fire Service said it expected to detect new fires from the weather system in the coming days.

Across the province, 108 fires broke out on Friday, 64 of which were started in the past two days.

Since the beginning of the bushfire season, there have been 634 fires in BC, burning nearly 340 square kilometers.