The Thomas Creek and Nk’Mip Creek Wildfires continue to burn through the weekend despite not showing substantial growth over recent days.
BC Wildfire is anticipating temperatures stay around or above the seasonal highs for several days alongside drops in humidity.
That combined with a southerly front of wind that is expected to come through the area in the next few days is expected to cause the fire activity to increase and for their to be growth on the fires.
Parts of the Thomas Creek fire, measuring 11,771 hectares at the last estimate, have been put on a modified response due to the steep terrain making conventional ground tactics difficult.
The fire itself is showing activity mainly on the northwest flank, in the Derenzy Lake area, but growth has been minimal.
READ MORE: BC Wildfire: Expect activity to pick up on South Okanagan wildfires
The Nk’Mip Creek wildfire on the other hand is still the largest in the South Okanagan at an estimated 17,812 hectares, and saw some growth overnight and on Saturday morning.
Water tankers have been deployed multiple times over the last few days to the Nk’Mip fire to support crews in the steep terrain on the northern flank with retardant to slow the spread of the fire, which provides more time for ground crews to construct and reinforce guard lines
Crews, fire behaviour analysts and ignition specialists are also preparing for a 300 hectare planned ignition operation on the northwest flank. The plan was for the ignition to be done on Aug. 14 if weather conditions were favourable in order to remove the fuel between the guard lines and the head of the fire.
Structural protection crews have been deployed to both fires and are staying active overnight in case of increased activity on the fires.
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