Fire crews responding to blaze near Kootenay Way, one of four in area since Sunday evening

Photo: Kristen Holliday

A member of the Tk'emlups Natural Resources crew works to control the fire near Kootenay Way Monday morning

UPDATE: 11:51 a.m.

Fire crews are still battling a blaze in the Mount Paul area, working to cool it down before the afternoon brings heat and higher winds, according to Kamloops Fire Rescue’s assistant fire chief.

Ryan Cail said crews were called out to the fire, which started in a slash pile near Kootenay Way, just after 4 a.m. Monday morning.

“We’re retasking some of our members right now to come back to the scene. The guys did a really good job last night, knocking it down, get it under control. But, as we know, the heat of the day is coming,” Cail said.

“We're gonna put a couple more hours and lots more water into it right now to see if we can really try and cool it down.”

KFR crews are working in conjunction with the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc natural resources department in an effort to control the blaze.

Cail said the slash pile was made up of mixed debris and covered an area spanning about 100 feet by 100 feet.

The fire was burning deep into the soil, according to Cail, and crews were also mindful of protecting a nearby residence and other homes in the area.

“It took quite a bit of resources and water and time allocated to try and get it out, and we’re going to continue actioning the fire today to try and get a handle on this thing before the winds come up this afternoon.”

Thomas Blank, councillor for Tk’emlups te Secwepemc, said the fire was started in a pile of debris from an old mill.

He said there is a lot of heat still generated by the fire, and crews will need to control for sparks and embers coming from the area. They are putting more water on the blaze, which will create more smoke.

Cail confirmed three additional fires had started in the area since Sunday evening — one at 5 p.m. and two more overnight.

Blank said he has talked with the RCMP, who are investigating all four fires. Castanet Kamloops is awaiting a call back from police.

Cail said this is a dangerous time for fires, due to the lack of rain and higher temperatures coming later this week.

“We got last year's dry dead grass, and then we're gonna have the winds pick up and we got some sparks, we're gonna have fires going all over the place,” he said.

“Our message right now to everybody is to please be very careful. If you can get away with not burning right now, it's a good idea until the spring, until we get some green up at least.”

ORIGINAL: 9:45 a.m.

Fire crews responded to a number of reports of fires in the Mount Paul area between Sunday evening and Monday morning — blazes that could have been intentionally set.

A Tk’emlups te Secwepemc councillor said there is concern the fire may have been the work of a firebug.

Coun. Thomas Blank said crews are currently on scene at a location just off Kootenay Way, where a fire started around 4 a.m. Monday morning in a large slash pile.

Blank, who is also on scene, said it’s still an active fire, with two Kamloops Fire Rescue bush trucks and a Tk’emlups te Secwepemc front end loader and pumper truck working together to control the blaze.

He said crews are monitoring the area and letting the fire burn out, spraying adjacent areas with water from a pumper truck to stop it from spreading.

Blank said there were a number of other fires that started over the past several hours.

“I don’t have any witnesses or proof of that, but that would be my guess, that someone has been intentionally lighting these fires,” Blank said.

On Sunday evening, he said crews responded to a fire at Indian Point, and two other fires had started early Monday morning near Chilcotin road and by a Husky station in the area.

Blank said the fire on Kootenay Way was the only one still burning.

Last week, fire crews put out a wildfire in the Mount Paul area, near the 200-block of Chilcotin Road.

Castanet Kamloops has reached out to Kamloops Fire Rescue and the RCMP. This article will be updated as more information becomes available.