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Wildfire near Keremeos grows to 60 hectares

Highway 3 between Keremeos and Osoyoos was closed early Friday morning due to fire.
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Flames from the Richter Mountain wildfire moved down hill and closed Highway 3 between Osoyoos and Keremeos early Friday morning. (Twitter)

Highway 3 between Keremeos and Osoyoos is once again open to traffic.

The stretch of road was closed earlier Friday because of a fire burning close to Chopaka Road near the highway.

According to fire information officer Nicole Bonnett of the BC Wildfire Service, the closure was requested by RCMP after flames from the Richter Mountain wildfire moved into the region late Thursday and early Friday.

“That area is relatively prone to down-slope winds late night early morning the fire did advance downhill,” said Bonnett, Friday morning.

READ MORE: UPDATE: BCWS: boaters steer clear of Osoyoos Lake’s north end so skimmers can do job

A size update for that wildfire was not available however Thursday night it was reported at 60 hectares. A crew of 20 firefighters along with heavy equipment were on scene overnight.

“I’m not exactly sure the what the operational plan for the day (Friday) will be but we’ll likely have similar resources on site today that we had yesterday so there’ll be the aircraft and unit crews,” said Bonnett.

In total there are only four fires in the Kamloops Fire Centre region, the Richter Mountain fire, two fires under control and in the patrol stage east and northeast of Osoyoos and a lightning-caused spot fire called Crater Creek in the Ashnola Valley near Cathedral Provincial Park southwest of Keremeos.


 

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