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New wildfire erupts near Keremeos Creek fire west of Penticton

Fires across the U.S. border are also blowing a lot of smoke here, says BC Wildfire Services
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Angela Scholefield took this photo of the new Blue Mountain fire from Okanagan Lake at Trout Creek in Summerland. (Facebook)

If you’ve been wondering if all that smoke and haze is from a new fire in South Okanagan, you’d be right.

BC Wildfire Service is also responding to a new fire approximately 15 kilometres north of the Keremeos Creek wildfire. The Blue Mountain wildfire is currently estimated at 10 hectares in size.

It is exhibiting aggressive rank four behaviour with an organized flame front and candling with short-range spotting, said BC Wildfire.

Crews and aerial resources are responding. Smoke in the area will be highly visible from this wildfire and from wildfires burning along the U.S. border.

On top of that, the Keremeos Creek fire has flared up again.

The Okanagan is currently experiencing strong winds. Due to the change in weather, the Keremeos Creek fire is experiencing growth on the southwest side and is exhibiting rank two and three fire behaviour, said BCWS.

Smoke from large fires across the border in Idaho and Washington is moving into the southern part of B.C. and will do so for the next few days as well.

Brown and orange skies can be seen north of Penticton, across Summerland and into Peachland and West Kelowna from the new Blue Mountain fire.

READ MORE: Trusted air tankers based out of Penticton are being retired



Monique Tamminga

About the Author: Monique Tamminga

Monique brings 20 years of award-winning journalism experience to the role of editor at the Penticton Western News. Of those years, 17 were spent working as a senior reporter and acting editor with the Langley Advance Times.
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