The Shuswap may be experiencing increasing smoke today, Friday, August 19, but there are no new fires in the Shuswap Emergency Program’s response area.
A change in weather patterns is creating some smoky and hazy conditions particularly in the North Shuswap area, however, this smoke is coming from the Mt Grice-Hutchinson fire, southwest of Seymour Arm.
People in the area will also see a lot of helicopter traffic from the BC Wildfire Service, which has set up a staging area for crews near the Ross Creek Country Store in Anglemont. This will likely continue through the weekend.
BC Wildfire is still reporting the Mt Grice-Hutchinson fire as out of control, but the size of the blaze has not grown considerably beyond yesterday’s estimated fire area of 7.9 hectares.
An Evacuation Alert for the five boat-in only cabins on the Anstey Peninsula remains in effect.
The Shuswap Emergency Program extends its thanks to the BC Wildfire crews working to extinguish this fire. We also want to thank the members of the Celista, Scotch Creek and Anglemont Fire Departments who took quick action this morning to put out a car fire in Celista. Their quick action ensured the fire did not spread.
For more information on the Mt Grice-Hutchinson fire or to check on any other fires in the region, please see the BC Wildfire Service Dashboard.