Wildfires closing in on BC Interior highways

BC’s wildfire season is heating up and fires are closing in on some major highways.

The latest is in the North Okanagan where the Bradley Creek wildfire forced the closure of two routes.

For more than a week, the Trans-Canada Highway to the Lower Mainland have been closed.

Highway 97 between Vernon and Falkland is now closed after the North Okanagan blaze blew up the valley over the weekend.

Since discovered on July 31, the blaze has burned nearly 3,000 hectares and prompted closures on Highway 97 and Westside Road.

The highway remains open between Salmon River Road to where it meets the Trans Canada at Monte Creek, while Westside Road is closed between Highway 97 and Shelter Cover due to the Bradley Creek fire and the Quilpituk Creek fire south of Fintry.

The Highway 97 route remains closed to the north of Cache Creek, too. Massive fires near Clinton have prompted numerous closures, including the major route that takes travelers between from the Thompson Valley to the Cariboo region.

To the south, Highway 3 was also closed due to wildfires in late July, but it has since been reopened despite the fires encroaching near the highway. Closer to Vernon, another fire between Needles and Cherryville is out of control near Highway 6. Although public access to the area is limited, the route remains open.

The Columbia Valley went dark on Aug. 2 when a Kootenay wildfire damaged a BC Hydro line and cut power to 18,000 customers between Golden and Canal Flats. Power was restored early the next morning, but drivers travelling through could not access fuel pumps until then.

As of Aug. 4, the Coquihalla and Trans-Canada highways remain clear for travel between the Interior and Lower Mainland, along with Highway 5 North.

There are 16 active wildfires in the Kamloops Fire Centre with nine burning out of control.

So far, the Pear Lake fire complex near Clinton and the two recent North Okanagan fires are the only ones to result in evacuations for the Thompson-Okanagan region.

More information on road closures and hazards can be found on the DriveBC website here.