Skip to content

Kamloops prepares for possiblity of Elephant Hill fire

The Elephant Hill fire is still far away but city says its officials are prepared.
8147933_web1_170817-BPD-Elephant-hill

— Kamloops this Week

The fire is still more than 40 kilometres away, but as evacuation orders for the Elephant Hill wildfire move further east, the City of Kamloops has put together a plan to deal with the protection of the city and its residents.

The wildfire protection plan includes additional firefighter support and equipment and preparations for a “measured evacuation” if necessary. The city says that Kamloops Fire Rescue is monitoring nearby wildfires closely and is communicating daily with the B.C. Wildfire Service.

The city says there’s been some confusion about how close the Elephant Hill wildfire is to Kamloops due to online wildfire maps being misread.

Late Wednesday afternoon, the two evacuation orders closest to Kamloops, located north of the western tip of Kamloops Lake for Bonaparte and Criss Creek, were rescinded to evacuation alerts.

The city is asking residents to stay on high alert when it comes to fire risk in the area, and encourages people to protect their homes using the FireSmart principles, which are available on the city’s website.