Update: 12:45 p.m.
Ashnola Road at Buckhorn Campground is closed due to the 50-hectare wildfire burning near Cathedral Provincial Park.
The wildfire was discovered on Friday afternoon, July 11. It is located west of Keremeos and suspected to be human-caused.
"Watch for traffic control," DriveBC said about the reported road closure. "The road is shut down at Buckhorn Campground, the fire is farther west of that point. No access past closure."
An evacuation alert remains in effect for the following areas:
• Cathedral Lake Lodge
• Lake of the Woods Campground
• Twin Buttes Campground
• Cathedral Lake
• Pyramid Lake
• Ladyslipper Lake
Original: 8:45 a.m.
The Young Creek wildfire west of Keremeos grew to 50 hectares in size on Friday night, prompting an evacuation alert to be place.
In the afternoon of July 11, the blaze was discovered by Ashnola Road close to Cathedral Provincial Park.
Around 7 p.m., the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen Emergency Operations Centre (RDOS EOC) issued an evacuation alert in Electoral Area “G, due to the blaze.
The evacuation alert near the Cathedral Provincial Park at approximately 21 kilometres on Ashnola Road and includes the following areas:
- Cathedral Lake Lodge
- Lake of the Woods Campground
- Twin Buttes Campground
- Cathedral Lake
- Pyramid Lake
- Ladyslipper Lake
People in the area should have a grab-and-go back ready and should be ready to leave at a moment's notice as conditions change.
The RDOS EOC currently at its level one monitoring level and is working closely with Upper Similkameen Indian Band (USIB) and Lower Similkameen Indian Band (LSIB) on the situation.
LSIB Guardians were tasked with notifying campers in the evacuation alert zone and did so to the edge of the boundary at approximately the 11km mark of Ashnola Road.
LSIB became aware of the fire after an off-duty fire service member from out of town noticed smoke in the area. The witness reported the blaze to BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) and then LSIB.
After BCWS pinpointed the fire's location, two LSIB Guardians & one LSIB Incident Commander responded to the area ahead of BCWS' ground resources for further assessment. After confirming campsites in the area were not occupied, LSIB closed Ashnola Road at the 27km bridge to everyone except fire operations personnel.
However, shortly after the road closure, the blaze jumped Ashnola Road at the 28.5 km mark. BCWS's first helicopter on scene attacked that area first.
BCWS continued to attack the blaze Friday night and into Saturday morning, but haven't provided an update since 10 p.m. They have 34 firefighters, two helicopters and heavy equipment working on the blaze. On Friday night, the blaze was displaying Rank 3 behaviour.
LSIB stated in a press release that the cause of the blaze is under investigation, but BCWS suspected the fire is human-caused. It remains out of control.
Lower Ashnola Wildfire
About an hour before the Young Creek wildfire was discovered, the Lower Ashnola wildfire was found just off of Highway 3, closer to Keremeos.
The Keremeos Volunteer Fire Department (KVFD) were called to the scene with multiple units, joining BCWS who was there with multiple initial attack crews as well as two helicopters.
The fire reached one hectare in size before it was extinguished. While LSIB neighbours and band members attended the scene to help residents in the area, BC emergency health services (BCEHS) also attended the scene on standby and transported two patients from the scene for assessment.
Much like the Young Creek wildfire, it remains under investigation but is suspected to be human-caused.
No homes were damaged in the fire.
