Dry conditions persist in South Okanagan despite weekend rain

It’s shaping up to be a dry spring in the South Okanagan, in spite of much needed rain that fell last weekend.

Oliver fire chief Rob Graham says crews were called to put out a roughly one hectare brush fire near Oliver along Fruitvale Way west of Highway 97 yesterday, April 28. 

“The initial report came from B.C. Wildfire who let us know there was a fire on the mountain," Graham says. "We weren’t called out to do anything about it, but then we had more reports of a brush fire further down towards the valley. That’s when we were called into action."

The fire burned close to a house under construction but Graham says it wasn’t able to get close enough due to barren ground around the house. B.C. Wildfire Service says the blaze was person caused.

He says it's super early for grass fire season. His firefighters have put out at least 16 brush fires so far. 

“Even after that weekend of rain, which I don’t think amounted to that much, all that really did for us was to wet down the surface and get the grass to grow. Nothing is really penetrating the subsoil. Conditions still are dry," Graham says.

“We’ve seen no rain, pretty much through March and April, and as May and June comes along, everything just gets warmer.”

The Kamloops Fire Centre lists 19 active fire currently burning in the region.

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