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On Friday, two new wildfires appeared in BC’s southern interior near Penticton.
The BC Wildfire Service confirmed Saturday that the larger of the two fires – located south of Penticton – remained within the local fire department’s jurisdiction.
Okanagan Falls fire chief Rob Oliver said that both his fire crew and the BC Wildfire Service worked to control the blaze Friday evening, while local firefighters remained on scene to provide backup throughout the night.
Officials suspect that the fire was not something that just naturally occurred.
“The fire is believed to be a result of some sort of human activity, so [BC Wildfire Service’s fire origin and cause team will] be completing an investigation out there,” BC Wildfire Service communications assistant and fire information Nicole Bonnett told CBC News, referring to the agency’s investigative team.
The other wildfire is located on the outskirts of Okanagan Falls; it is less than a square kilometre in size, but is roughly half a kilometre away from a regional library.
Oliver said this smaller fire started next to the Skaha Lake outlet dam, consuming grass and sagebrush until it managed to scale a bluff.
The cause of the second fire is unknown, but RCMP has been tapped to examine the suspected starting point.
