Cooler days help firefighters battle wildfire near Logan Lake

Cooler temperatures and higher humidity in recent days have helped fire crews as they continue to battle a fire near Logan Lake, B.C.

The B.C. Wildfire Service says the fire, which is around Tunkwa Lake Road roughly six kilometres north of Logan Lake, is estimated to be 140 hectares in size.

Fire information officer Jody Lucius says it took time to estimate the size of the fire because of the smoke and terrain.

"It made it difficult to access the fire on the ground," Lucius said.

Yesterday, there was a crew of 60 personnel with 10 pieces of heavy equipment, two helicopters and tankers on standby doing battle with the blaze. Lucius says they were helped by the cooler temperatures.

"We are able to typically get crews out onto those fires a little easier and actually make some progress with it," she said.

Listen to the interview with Jody Lucius:

Also on scene are fire investigators trying to determine the exact cause of the fire.

Although there are rumours the fire was human-caused, Lucius said it has not been confirmed.

Fires in context

There have already been 33 fires in the Kamloops region this year, compared to seven at this point last year.

"That's interesting considering how busy the year was last year," Lucius said, referring to the record-breaking wildfire season the province experienced last summer. 

However, the numbers are not necessarily an indication of what the rest of the fire season could look like.

"The weather changes very quickly around the mountains and so we'll see what this year brings," she said.

With files from Daybreak Kamloops