Firefighters have now contained 20 per cent of a wildfire burning south of Lytton, but there are concerns that hot and dry weather could cause it to flare up again.
The Cisco Road fire was last mapped at 1,270 hectares on Saturday. Rain on Friday helped slow the blaze, but the area is beginning to dry out again.
“It’s looking fairly quiet this morning; however, going into the afternoon we could see once again an increase in fire behaviour. We’re moving into a hot and dry trend, and winds tend to gust quite strong throughout the Fraser Canyon,” fire information officer Kayla Pepper said Sunday morning.
Although Environment Canada is predicting a small chance of rain in the area Sunday night, temperatures are expected to soar above 30 degrees on Monday.
Crews from across the province have been pulled in to help the firefighting effort. By Sunday morning, 94 firefighters, nine helicopters, five pieces of heavy equipment and an incident management team were at the scene of the blaze. In all, 130 people are helping in the firefighting effort.
The residents of 10 homes on Lytton First Nation land have been evacuated because of the fire, and one home has been destroyed. The Thompson-Nicola Regional District has also issued an evacuation alert for between 60 and 65 homes.
People affected by the fire gathered at a public information meeting in Lytton Saturday evening to get an update on the fire, which officials expect could be burning for some time.
“At this time, we do anticipate having personnel here for a long period of time and it is a top priority to get this fire contained as quickly as possible,” Pepper said.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but investigators have visited the site to gather evidence, and they are currently drafting a report on their findings.
With files from the Canadian Press
