The Nohomin Creek fire, just 1.7 kilometers northwest of a village that was destroyed by fire a year ago, burned at least six homes over two days, and officials said possibly more than nine. The number of registered evacuees rose Saturday to 95 people, authorities in nearby Lillooet, B.C., said — up from 80 the day before. However, the size of the fire remained “stable” at 15 square kilometers Saturday afternoon, despite working through steep, “difficult to access” terrain, BC Fire Service officials said around 4 p.m. That’s an area about the size of Smithers, BC — or four times the size of Vancouver’s Stanley Park. “No significant growth has been observed,” the fire service said in a tweet after 4pm on Saturday. “Ground crews and air resources are working on the south, east and north flanks of the fire.” Earlier in the day, fire information officer Nicole Bonnett said dozens of firefighters, including from the Lytton First Nation, were battling the blaze with the help of sprinkler systems and air crews.
Fire rages near Lytton, BC, one year after deadly blaze
A wildfire is raging outside of Lytton, BC, just over a year after the town was completely destroyed by a deadly wildfire. “There was very little rain, but it didn’t help the firefighters,” Lytton First Nation Deputy Chief John Haugen said Saturday afternoon. “We’re just hoping there’s no extreme wind activity.” Haugen said up to 10 structures were burned by the fire, including an empty cabin Saturday night. “You have mixed feelings,” he said. “You have people doing what they can to help people, and then you have people who can’t go home.” In an interview, Bonnett described the fire as “kind of low to the ground, smoldering … which is really good to see.” He said crews would monitor wind activity as well as the forecast for rain, although he noted that if the rain was light, it would not have much of an impact on current fire activity. The cause of the fire that broke out at 12:45 noon on Thursday remains unknown. Lytton First Nation issued evacuation orders for multiple reserves as a result of the fire. The Thompson-Nicola Regional District also issued an evacuation order for a portion of Constituency I. So far, more than 100 square kilometers of BC have burned since the official fire season began in April, according to the province. This is a larger area than the city of Vernon, BC
