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Rapattack crew responds to small wildfire east of Salmon Arm, Sicamous

Three-person rappel crew dispatched to Joss Mountain
22312279_web1_200807-SAA-Joss-Mountain-fire
This Google map outlines the distance from Sicamous to Joss Mountain, the red dot. (Google maps)

Following the lightning strikes that hit Salmon Arm recently, one fire discovered is receiving the attention of a Salmon Arm Rapattack crew.

A small fire was spotted Sunday, Aug. 2 at Joss Mountain, northeast of Salmon Arm and Sicamous.

It is one of the areas listed on the Shuswap Trails website. Joss Mountain Pass is described as a Sicamous and East Shuswap hike. The mountain is over an hour by car northeast of Salmon Arm and about 50 minutes east of Sicamous. It’s about 115 kilometres to Salmon Arm by highway and about 60 km as the crow flies.

Gagan Lidhran, fire information officer with the Kamloops Fire Centre, reported on Monday afternoon, Aug. 3, that a rappel crew of three people from the Rapattack base in Salmon Arm was en-route via helicopter to the Joss Mountain fire.

She said the wildfire was .009 hectares (1/50th of an acre), lightning-caused and out of control. She said it would also be hit with water from the air, so crews can build a perimeter around the fire safely and quickly.

Read more: Wildfire in West Kelowna’s Rose Valley grows to 3 hectares

Read more: Crews control fire near Okanagan mountain resort

Relative to Salmon Arm, the other wildfire in the region is southeast of Salmon Arm at Bobbie Burns Mountain. Lidhran said Aug. 3 that it is 0.1 hectare, out of control, with three Wildfire BC personnel on the ground. It is about 65 kilometres northeast of Vernon.

Currently there are 19 active fires in the Kamloops Fire Centre, 13 of which started on Aug. 1 and 2. Of the 19 total, nine were caused by lightning, one was caused by people and, for the remaining nine, the cause is unknown.

The Kamloops Fire Centre, which includes Salmon Arm, extends as far west as Lillooet and as far east as Sicamous, with Clearwater to the north and Penticton to the south.

Currently open burning in the Kamloops Fire Centre is prohibited, but as of Aug. 3 a campfire ban was not in effect nor were there restrictions on forest use.



marthawickett@saobserver.net
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Martha Wickett

About the Author: Martha Wickett

came to Salmon Arm in May of 2004 to work at the Observer. I was looking for a change from the hustle and bustle of the Lower Mainland, where I had spent more than a decade working in community newspapers.
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