B.C. Wildfire Threatens Homes, Water Drops In The Plan

B.C. wildfire threatens Kamloops homes

Written by The Canadian Press

July 28, 2010, Kamloops, B.C. - Hundreds of homes in Kamloops, B.C., are threatened by a wildfire that broke out Tuesday evening on the edge of the southern Interior city, 350 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.

As many as 150 people have been evacuated from a nearby trailer park on the eastern edge of the city and hundreds more residents living in suburbs around Valleyview, Juniper and Barnhartvale are on evacuation alert.

Kamloops Fire Captain Sheldon Guertin says the blaze has grown to as much as 50 hectares — or half a square kilometre — within hours.

He says firefighters and B.C. Forest Service crews now believe it is 55 per cent contained but several heavily forested ravines lie in the path of the flames.

He says those ravines and many dead standing trees are fuelling the blaze.

No homes have been lost and Guertin says a plan for helicopter water drops or other air support is coming.