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Kamloops  

More than a dozen properties northwest of Kamloops have lost structures to Sparks Lake fire, TNRD says

Structures lost to Sparks fire

More than a dozen properties northwest of Kamloops have lost structures to the massive Sparks Lake wildfire, but conditions remain too hazardous for officials to determine exactly how many homes have been destroyed.

The Sparks Lake fire is approaching 600 square kilometres in size. The latest BC Wildfire Service estimate has it pegged at more than 58,000 hectares.

The fire has been burning since June 28. It started in the Red Lake area and now stretches from the Deadman Valley to the Bonaparte Lake area.

Thompson-Nicola Regional District information officer Priscilla Kazarian told Castanet Kamloops officials have completed an “aerial damage assessment,” but she said conditions on the ground are still too dangerous for workers to approach.

“From this aerial assessment, we have been able to identify over a dozen properties that have suffered structure loss in the areas of Deadman-Vidette Road and Tranquille-Criss Creek Road,” she said.

“We are aiming to be able to enter the area to perform damage assessments in the coming days, however this is dependent on the status of hazards in the area.”

The Sparks Lake blaze is the largest of the more than 250 fires currently burning in B.C. Its southeast perimeter is about 24 kilometres northwest of Kamloops city limits at Tranquille.



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