The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) has rescinded evacuation orders for selected properties along the Highway 3A corridor for the Keremeos Creek wildfire.
Evacuation orders have been rescinded for properties from Twin Lakes to just north of Olalla along the Highway 3A corridor. This includes selected properties along Sheep Creek Road. Those evacuation orders were issued Aug. 1 and 3.
The properties remain under evacuation alert.
Highway 3A will remain closed for through traffic, said RDOS. Checkpoints have been established along Highway 3A to restrict to only local traffic accessing properties on evacuation alert. Due to the threat of wildfire, these properties will remain on evacuation alert.
The communities of Olalla, Apex and sections of Green Mountain Road remain on evacuation order.
The RDOS has rescinded evacuation alerts for over 130 properties in the Twin Lakes and White Lake Road area.
As of Aug. 10, there are 493 properties that remain on evacuation and 909 on evacuation alert, including portions of Keremeos village.
As its reached day 13 since its inception, the Keremeos Creek wildfire is has shown no growth overnight as it continues to sit at an estimated 6,836 hectares.
Overnight conditions were favourable as BC Wildfire Service crews continued to work on hotspots, patrol the perimeter and work along Highway 3A.
Drone-operated thermal scanning was used overnight to assist crews in eliminating hotspots along the Highway 3A corridor as part of efforts to speed up safely allowing evacuees to return home.
“While we’ve made good progress on this fire, it is still very much an out-of-control wildfire,” said BC Wildfire in a media briefing Wednesday morning.
BC Wildfire said Highway 3A in Olalla is still very much a work zone for them so it isn’t expecting to open Highway 3A to regular traffic in the next few days.
There is no timeline on when this fire will be out. It’s a very large footprint for this fire so it will be a considerable amount of time before we can contain this thing,” said BC Wildfire information officer Mikhail Elsay.
READ MORE: Cooler temperatures helping Keremeos Creek wildfire
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