New mapping at the Glen Lake wildfire in Peachland shows the blaze is now 1,116.2 hectares in size.
The blaze has received bucketing efforts since Monday and the cooler temperatures have helped calm the blaze but it remains out of control.
To help battle the fire, crews will be conducting small planned hand ignitions at the northeast flank, tying to the existing guard.
“The purpose of the planned ignition is to remove unburnt fuel in an intentional way to secure the control lines and achieve containment,” said BC Wildfire Service. “Planned ignitions are a very useful tactic in fire suppression and fire management and are often the safer and more efficient operational tactic. It allows us to bring the fire perimeter down to control lines and creates a more uniform and continuous fire edge which makes it easier for crews to use direct attack methods on and extinguish hot spots to strengthen control lines and achieve containment. This is also more time-efficient and safer for the crews as they have to spend less time chasing hot spots and patches of free-burning fire in rough terrain.”
During the ignitions, aerial support will be assigned to help bucket the efforts. Smoke may be visible to surrounding communities from the blaze and planned ignitions.
Structural protection crews completed their efforts in the Glen Lake area on Monday and are now setting up sprinklers in the Princeton neighbourhood in Peachland as a precautionary measure.
All evacuation orders and alerts remain the same and can be viewed on the Central Okanagan Emergency Operations map. Additionally, Munro Road is closed due to wildfire operations in the area.
On Thursday, crews are expecting a high of 22 C with relative humidity ranging from 25-50 per cent. Winds will be around 10-15 km/h with gusts up to 25 km/h. They will start easterly and swing to the northwest by the end of the day.
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