Headlines News Wildfire Week
White Lake wildfire now contained

July 30, 2013, Vancouver – A 70-hectare wildfire southwest of Okanagan Falls, B.C., is now contained but crews are still struggling to erect guards around a more stubborn blaze near the Kootenay community of Winlaw as the province marks a grim anniversary.

Officials with the Wildfire Management Branch confirm the White Lake fire, which was sparked by people on Sunday afternoon, 20 kilometres southwest of Penticton, has been completely contained.

It was a tense two days for the community near the south Okanagan wildfire, but resident Stephanie Salsnek watched what she calls the aerial ballet between the air tankers and the helicopters as firefighters and pilots halted spreading fires.

However, the Perry Ridge blaze, 4.5 kilometres west of Winlaw in southeastern B.C., remains uncontained, one week after it was sparked by lightning.

Fire officials say smoke is visible from Winlaw but the remote fire, which is almost one square kilometre in size, is not threatening any structures.

Ten years ago today, the Barriere and McLure wildfires were started by a stray cigarette butt north of Kamloops, eventually scorching more than 260 square kilometres of forest and destroying the community of Louis Creek.