Hundreds of people who live in and around Osoyoos, B.C. can now return home after favourable winds pushed the Eagle Bluff wildfire west.
The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen announced on Monday afternoon that 192 properties are now under evacuation order, down from 732.
Over 2,600 properties remain on alert.
Those on alert are urged to “remain vigilant and be prepared in case conditions change,” RDOS Emergency Operations Centre spokesperson Erick Thompson said.
Transportation officials also rescinded the travel advisory on a 47 kilometre stretch of Highway 3 between Keremos and Osoyoos on Monday.
The wildfire has grown to nearly 1,500 hecatres on the Canadian side of the border since Sunday, but that growth was mostly on the west flank of the fire, away from the Town of Osoyoos, BC Wildfire Service information officer Shaelee Stearns explained.
Favourable winds “blew the fire back into itself,” over the mountain in the northeast, she said.
Stearns said 50 firefighters are still working around the clock on the blaze, focusing mostly on its eastern flank, closest to Osoyoos.
With files from CTV News Vancouver