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BC Wildfire merges Mt. Eneas and Munro Lake fires

Large plume of smoke seen over the fire was a controlled event

Glen Burgess, incident commander for the Okanagan Complex of wildfires, says he can understand why people were nervous watching a new big plume of smoke rise from the Mount Eneas fire today.

But it was all part of a plan, he explained to a group of media this afternoon. BC Wildfire intentionally increased the size of the Mount Eneas fire, forcing it to join with the nearby Munro Forest Service Road Wildfire wildfire.

ѻýThe plume of smoke can be unnerving,ѻý said Burgess, explaining that it was a choice between doing it themselves, under their own terms, or waiting for it to happen uncontrollably when an inevitable wind blew the fire up.

ѻýThe objective was to remove that fuel at our time when the weather was co-operating,ѻý said Burgess.

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Crews used helicopters to drop ping pong size balls ѻý plastic spherical devices, Burgess called them ѻý loaded with a small amount of chemicals that would ignite, causing new fires.

Prior to the drop, aerial tankers laid out lines of retardant to contain the fire.

ѻýThe plan was to remove the fuel between two fires,ѻý Burgess said. He explained that ground crews could have done the work, but that would have put lives at risk unnecessarily.

ѻýThings have gone well and we didnѻýt have anything go unexpectedly,ѻý said Burgess.

ѻýOne of the reasons we wanted to do this today, is we havenѻýt moved into the hotter dryer weather that was predicted.ѻý

The burn added about 150 hectares to the fire.

ѻýThe growth we saw today was a planned event,ѻý said Burgess. ѻýWe will be in a much better position. The fire will be behind containment lines where we can work on it.

The good news, Burgess explained, is that winds arenѻýt expected to accompany the warming weather.

ѻýAt this point, our weather people are telling us we wonѻýt be seeing the winds we saw a few days ago,ѻý he said.

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The Mt. Eneas wildfire is still considered out of control and the Central Okanagan Regional District say evacuation alerts will remain in effect overnight for 698 properties in the vicinity of the 1,400-hectare Mt. Eneas fire and the 150-hectare Munro Forest Service Road Wildfire.

In the Central Okanagan, the following addresses remain on evacuation alert: 7100 ѻý 7210 Brent Rd.; 7212 ѻý 7280 Highway 97 South; Finlay Creek Cabins.

All alerts and orders remain rescinded for the Goodeѻýs Creek Wildfire south of Kelowna and the Law Creek Wildfire south of West Kelowna. BC Wildfire says no significant growth had occurred on either of these fires by mid-Sunday afternoon.

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Steve Kidd
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