Fire Near Cawston

[mee-mo87]

Fire on the hillside, up above the Similkameen River, across from the Lower Similkameen Indian Band school.
One helicopter actioning fire. Looks too high up the mountain and in a rocky area to be human caused... Possibly started by an ember from the nearby Cathedral Park fire...?

[canuck500]

Hold over from a lightning strike is always another possibility.

[dieseluphammerdown]

Give it a minute or two and one of the self righteous non smokers on these forums will inform you it was from a carelessly discarded cigarette.

[Star Light]

Give it a minute or two and one of the self righteous non smokers on these forums will inform you it was from a carelessly discarded cigarette.

Hahaha........You're giving me a much needed laugh today, ta.......*thumbs up*

On a more serious note......any updates on this fire?

[GordonH]

Curious, how many human caused forrest fires have their been in and around the Okanagan so far this season.

[madadam]

Theres also another large fire in the same area as the Cathedral Lakes one, 24 km up Ashnola FSR:

24 km Ashnola Rd (K50277)

Last updated: Sunday, July 05, 2015 at 10:08 AM

Location: 24 km up Ashnola FSR - north of the Ashnola River
• See approximate location of this wildfire on a Mapquest map.
• View an interactive map of all active Wildfires of Note.

Discovered: Saturday, July 04, 2015

Size: 100.0 hectares

Status: Active
• 0% contained
Fire is burning in a northerly direction moving up slope. The BC Wildfire Service has been utilizing helicopters and firefighters as it was unsafe for airtanker operations yesterday.

[Drip_Torch]

Don't know, not there, but slightly south west of Cawston is:

K50176
Date of discovery: 00:00:00 06/27/2015
Suspected Cause: Lightning
Approximate Location: Hunter Creek
Estimated Size: 70 HA
Fire Status: Active

[Frisk]

I believe the OP is referring to the Ashnola road fire. It's 100 hectares in size and also close to Cathedral Provincial Park. It's suspected to be human caused.

[Drip_Torch]

50176 sure seems to fit the OP description. It's right there across the river, up the hill, in the rocks and close enough that you could see a helicopter working.

(...and you don't have to look thru a mountain to see it from Cawston.)

[driveangry]

Theres also another large fire in the same area as the Cathedral Lakes one, 24 km up Ashnola FSR:

24 km Ashnola Rd (K50277)

Last updated: Sunday, July 05, 2015 at 10:08 AM

Location: 24 km up Ashnola FSR - north of the Ashnola River
• See approximate location of this wildfire on a Mapquest map.
• View an interactive map of all active Wildfires of Note.

Discovered: Saturday, July 04, 2015

Size: 100.0 hectares

Status: Active
• 0% contained
Fire is burning in a northerly direction moving up slope. The BC Wildfire Service has been utilizing helicopters and firefighters as it was unsafe for airtanker operations yesterday.

Any word on possible cause ??

[madadam]

Cause: Under Investigation
Suspected to be human caused.

[mee-mo87]

Sorry was travelling through the area when we observed the fire.
50176 is in the area we observed this spot fire, but it appeared to only be a spot, not 70 HA as noted.

[Drip_Torch]

Sorry was travelling through the area when we observed the fire.
50176 is in the area we observed this spot fire, but it appeared to only be a spot, not 70 HA as noted.

That would explain a lone helicopter bucketing. I would expect an initial attack under these conditions to be a little loud and little busy for a few hours. It looks like it is up in a bit of a bench there and most of the area impacted isn't in view from the hwy. 70 ha is the area impacted, or put another way, the area between the natural breaks that are expected to hold the fire - it'll creep around in the rocks fuel finding... puff of smoke here, little heat there, until it either rains, or finds some fuel and wind.

Likely, something started showing some heat and they dropped a few buckets on it to keep the phone lines clear.