The BC Wildfire Service says it welcomes the rain and cooler weather as it continues to battle a trio of fires in the Kamloops area.

Speaking on NL Mornings, Information Officer, Andy Oldroyd, says conditions at the Bush Creek East Fire and the Lower East Adams Lake Fire near Adams Lake are looking “reasonably good” today, much like how it was yesterday.

“This break in the weather that we’ve had here though the valley is welcome news for the firefighters out on the fire lines,” Oldroyd said. “It really gives us an opportunity to sort of hit that reset button in a strategy sense and get some really good work done while there is not so much active fire out there.”

“Sometimes in the heat of the moment, it is difficult to do that because crews can’t get really close to the fire’s edge to really have a good handle on where it is and what effects the terrain has on it, so being able to have a couple days of quiet fire behaviour gives us an opportunity to get in close and really get a good handle on what we need to do.”

However, with hot and dry weather set to return by the end of the week, Oldroyd says we’re not out of the woods just yet.

“When we get conditions back into the high 20s, early 30s, it really is only a matter of days before the fuel becomes available to burn again. We’re certainly not out of the woods, and I guess that is why we are using this opportunity with a lull in the weather to get a really good handle on the guard lines that we need to do,” he said.

“We’re making sure all those hotspots on the edge of the fire leading up to those guard lines are extinguished. That is essentially what the crews have been out there today and yesterday and over the coming days doing.”

Evacuation orders and alerts remain in place on both sides of Adams Lake, though Oldroyd says no structures have been lost.

“In isolated areas, we’ve had fire right up to the back of the properties. We’ve got eight properties on the western shore of Lake Adams that are only accessible by boat. We’ve had structural protection equipment and that gear has done a great job of preventing the fire from actually damaging the structures, even though the fire has managed to come up pretty close,” Oldroyd said.

“Last night, we did see some flames in and around the hill behind the Dorian Bay area, so even though things are quiet, we’ve still got flames on the hot occasion.”

Meanwhile, the BC Wildfire Service also says the Ross Moore Lake fire, south of Kamloops, was hit with varying amounts of rainfall last night.

They say as much as 8 mm of precipitation has been recorded up until this morning, with the potential for between 2 and 5 mm more today, though there is also a slight risk of thunderstorms.

“The precipitation and increased moisture in the air will saturate surface level fuels,” the BCWS said. “However, the conditions will have minimal impact on fuels in deeper dry organic layers. ”

Winds are also expected on all three of the Adams Complex fires, with gusts of between 30 and 40 km/hr expected today as the weather system moves through the area.

About 18 properties in the TNRD remain under evacuation order, while hundreds more remain under evacuation alert.

There are 217 firefighters on scene at the Ross Moore Lake fire, 27 on the Bush Creek East fire, and 40 on the Lower East Adams Lake fire. There are also 33 pieces of heavy equipment on the Ross Moore Lake fire, 25 on the Bush Creek East fire, and nine on the Lower East Adams Lake fire.

The ground crews are being assisted by 12 helicopters that have been assigned to the Adams Complex.

The Bush Creek East fire has burned an estimated 1,789 hectares – 17.8 square kilometres – of land, while the Lower East Adams Lake fire has burned 4,823 hectares – 48.2 square kilometres – of land.

The Ross Moore Lake fire is the largest of the trio, having burned an estimated 6,245 hectares – 62.4 square kilometres – of land.