Photo: BCWS

Cool Creek wildfire

A pair of out-of-control wildfires in the Similkameen saw considerable growth overnight.

The Old Tom Creek wildfire west of Olalla has grown to 527 hectares, up from 144 hectares over the weekend.

“There was some high winds yesterday and the day before, so we’ve seen an increase in the overall size,” fire information officer Steve Kada said.

“There is a lot of inoperable terrain unsafe for some of our crews to operate on. We are utilizing as much aviation support as we can,” he added.

The fire is burning about seven kilometres west of Olalla, and firefighting aircraft will be very visible to nearby residents. Seventy-five firefighters and 11 pieces of heavy equipment are attacking the blaze from the ground.

The nearby Cool Creek wildfire, 20 km northeast of Eastgate, is now mapped at 6,900 hectares.

The blaze joined with two other smaller fires over the weekend, burning in rough and remote terrain.

Twenty firefighters and 14 pieces of heavy equipment are engaged on the fire.

“We have firefighters working on the Ashnola Road area and accessing the fire where they can and it's safe to do so,” Kada said. “We also have some heavy equipment establishing control lines along the flanks of the fire as well.”

He said the fire has had reduced activity over the past few days, which is encouraging.

Multiple evacuation alerts for rural areas around that blaze remain in place.