It's an ongoing battle for firefighters tackling the wildfires in the Central Okanagan, but the BC Wildfire Service says they're making good progress.
Incident Commander Glen Burgess says no further wildfire growth is expected at this point.
“We still have a lot of resources committed,” says Burgess. “We’re continuing with mop-up and working on these fires, and we’re re-allocating resources between fires as we see fit.”
While the Mount Eneas wildfire is currently the largest fire burning in the region at the moment, crews are also keeping a close watch on the three fires burning at Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park to ensure that they don’t reach any residences at any point.
Burgess says crews already have their hands full with naturally caused fires - they don't need people being careless, especially with a fire ban in place.
“Person-caused fires are preventable,” says Burgess. “We end up with person-caused fires that take critical resources away from naturally-caused fires. So if a fire is preventable, let’s not have them.”
Nearly 300 firefighters are staying in tents at the Okanagan Complex Fire Camp on the Westbank. In order to avoid heat exhaustion, Burgess says firefighter shifts are being organized strategically, with many personnel starting earlier in the day so that they can avoid working in hot daytime conditions for too long.