Alert zones for poor air quality/via BC Ministry of Environment and Parks
A bit of a reprieve for the Kamloops area, as well as to the east in the Shuswap and the Columbia region around Revelstoke.
The “orange alert” issued by authorities for poor air quality has been scaled back.
Kamloops and the rest of the South Thompson are now in a “yellow alert” for poor air, which is still at levels which are unhealthy for those who have underlying health conditions.
However, the prevailing winds which had been pushing the smoke from the Brunswick Complex of fires in the Fraser Canyon — including the massive Ainslie Creek wildfire — have been shifting somewhat.
The winds which are entering the Fraser Canyon from the south seem to be getting caught within the Canyon itself, which is keeping the smoke more contained in the immediate region.
Time lapse of expected Air Quality readings in the region through Sunday morning. Red or darker is air quality in the hazardous range/via windy.com.
This comes as the BC Wildfire Service has also scaled back the overall scope of that fire.
Having pegged it at close to 170 square kilometers through Thursday, the service now says Ainslie Creek is just under 155 square kilometers in size.
It is still threatening properties in the TNRD’s Prospect Creek area, where 61 properties were put under an evacuation alert on Wednesday evening by the Regional District as the fire crossed over the invisible border between itself and the Fraser Valley Regional District.
While the smoke has died down somewhat outside the fire zone, an “orange alert” which the fire zone had previously managed to avoid due to the winds pushing the smoke to the northeast, is now mired in the worst of the smoke.
This is expected to hamper fire fighting efforts from the air.
Expect smoke from the fires to continue lingering over the Kamloops area through at least Sunday.
