UPDATE: Wildfire west of Kamloops now 50 per cent contained

KAMLOOPS – Fire crews are back fighting a blaze west of Kamloops this morning, June 28, where they have reached a point of 50 per cent containment.

The Dew Drop trail fire about 12 kilometres outside of Kamloops is still burning, but it's not as big as officials thought yesterday, June 27. B.C. Wildfire information officer Justine Hunse says the blaze was estimated at 260 hectares yesterday, but after GPS mapping of the fire, the size has been confirmed to be 156 hectares.

Hunse says about 20 firefighters worked overnight and reached "significant progress" toward containment of the fire.

Aircraft will be sent to the fire as needed today, and there are no threats to public safety or structures at this point. The closest structures are in the community of Frederick, about five kilometres away from the fire.

The fire originally began on June 17, when crews discovered a wildfire in the Lac du Bois grasslands and decided to perform a 25-hectare controlled burn of the area from there.

But on June 26, heavy winds and hot, dry weather caused the fire to spread. The cause of the original fire is still under investigation but it's suspected to be human caused. 

For more on the fire, go here.

The Dew Drop Trail fire west of Kamloops has now been mapped at 156 hectares. Fire officials say progress has been made toward containment. | Photographer: Kim Anderson

– This story was updated at 9:31 a.m. Wednesday, June 28, 2017, to include new information from B.C. Wildfire.


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Ashley Legassic

Ashley was born and raised in B.C., and recently moved to Kamloops from Vancouver. She pursued her diploma in journalism at Langara College and graduated in 2015. She got her start as an overnight writer for the Morning News on Global B.C. After spending a year there, she decided to follow her passion and joined iNFOnews.ca as a reporter covering court, cops and crime in Kamloops. If you have a story you think people should know about, email her at alegassic@infonews.ca.


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