Photo: Contributed

Progress has been made on the three wildfires burning in the Monashee Wildfire Complex. 

Fire information officer Kim Weir says that over the past few days crews have witnessed a decrease in fire behaviour. 

"With the continued slight downtrend in the weather, we continue to have a good opportunity to make decent progress on these fires. 

At last mapping, the Mabel Creek fire was estimated to be 1861 hectares; the Harris Creek fire was estimated to be at 508 hectares; the Sugar Mountain fire is estimated to be at 332 hectares. 

Crews were able to make progress on the fires despite some challenging conditions of late. 

"The smoke has been challenging to work in, but we have been able to use helicopters on the complex," says Weir. "It has inhibited, at times, our use of helicopters on the incident but not for days at a time. We are talking maybe hours at a time."

According to the BC Wildfire Service, eight new fires were started Saturday in the Vernon Fire Zone due to lightning. One fire, in the Monashee Complex, was quickly knocked down.

Crews are, however, remaining vigilant and as temperatures start to creep up again, so too does the risk of hold over fires.

"There was a significant amount of lightning in our area and within the Monashee Complex on Saturday, and it may have caused new starts that will become visible as temperatures increase through the week, but we haven't seen a lot of action as of yet."