Some evacuation orders have been downgraded for the Kookipi Creek and Stein Mountain wildfires.
The Fraser Valley Regional District said Monday (Sept. 4) that evacuation orders in the Nahatlatch River area and Boston Bar had been downgraded to alerts. The east side of the Fraser River and the Canyon Alpine area remain on alert.
“While the Evacuation Order is being downgraded, areas within the Evacuation Alert remain hazardous from poor road conditions, danger trees, post-fire hazards and other risks,” reads the notice from the Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD). The danger of wildfire may reoccur (caused by new ignitions, lightning strikes, or a change in the prevailing winds, for example) and an Evacuation Order may need to be reissued.”
The regional district also had a local state of emergency extended to Sept. 7.
Meanwhile, the Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) has lifted evacuation alerts for Blue Sky Country and the Village of Lytton for the Kookipi Creek wildfire. Lytton First Nation also downgraded an order to an alert last week.
The Kookipi Creek wildfire is an estimated 18,045.3 hectares and remains out of control. BC Wildfire Service says there was no significant growth on the fire on Sunday following light showers that tapered off in the evening.
BC Wildfire Service said that on Sunday crews were using a drone for aerial infrared scanning over the Canyon Complex wildfires to “identify hotspots along the fire perimeters, helping ground crews prioritize and extinguish hotspots near infrastructure, communities, properties and First Nations values.”
The Canyon Complex wildfires is made up of seven fires in the Fraser Canyon, including Kookipi Creek and Stein Mountain.
The Stein Mountain wildfire is an estimated 4,667.3 hectares as of Monday. It remains out of control.
On Monday, the TNRD downgraded an evacuation order to an alert for Blue Sky Country.
– With files from Kemone Moodley
READ MORE: Highway 1 reopens through the Fraser Canyon after wildfire closure
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