Fire behaviour is expected to increase over the coming days on the Bush Creek East wildfire in the North Shuswap.
According to the latest update from the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS), a warming and drying trend began on Saturday and is expected to continue into Monday before a change in weather hits on Tuesday.
“Active fire will be more visible and additional smoke will be produced,” says the BCWS.
The weather change on Tuesday is expected to bring cooler temperatures and a chance of precipitation, but it is also expected to bring increased wind to the area.
Operations have remained relatively consistent and crews are making good progress, the agency adds.
Danger tree assessment and mitigation is ongoing in areas near properties along the Anglemont/Squilax road to Scotch Creek starting at the Squilax airstrip.
The size of the fire was updated on Saturday due to better visbility. The fire is estimated to be about 43,406 hectares.
A fire guard has been constructed and crews will be doing mop up and small-scale hand ignitions to remove fuels between the guard and fire's edge near the Little Shuswap lake area.
Crews are monitoring properties on both sides of Adams Lake and mopping up above cabins along the Adams Forest Service Road.
Structure protection work is ongoing in Lee Creek, Scotch Creek, Celsita and Magna Bay.
Heavy equipment crews are working in those areas to complete fire guards, build control lines for future planned hand ignitions and help with extinguishing hotspots.
There are 209 wildland firefighters, 105 structure protection personnel, 79 pieces of heavy equipment and 62 support staff working on the Bush Creek East wildfire on Sunday.
Ground crews are being supported by 17 helicopters being shared between this fire and the Rossmoore Lake fire south of Kamloops.
Evacuation orders and alerts issued by the Columbia Shuswap Regional District can be viewed here.
The Thompson-Nicola Regional District partially rescinded an evacuation order for the Turtle Valley area. As of Saturday, the order remains in effect for 57 properties in electoral area “L”.
A revised evacuation alert is in place for 207 TNRD properties.
