The BC Wildfire Service says there has been some “extreme” fire behaviour at the northern part of the massive Sparks Lake fire because of low humidity and hot temperatures this week.

However, Fire Information Officer, Forrest Tower, says crews are concentrating on the southern flanks of the massive 65,484 hectare fire  – roughly 660 square kilometres – that is closest to communities.

“The plan going forward is to continue those containment lines in the south and then as they are completing those in the next few days, they’re just moving their gear and resources up the line,” he told NL News.

“It is just slow, laborious work now going forward into getting some containment up along the northern half of this fire, eventually the goal being to pinch it off at the head.”

For now crews are letting the northern flank of the fire burn. There are no ground or air resources along that flank of the fire, partly also because it is not safe for crews. Structure protection teams have set up equipment and they’re continuing to monitor it whenever its safe.

Tower notes there’s a reason for this particular strategy.

“We are seeing some stability on the Sparks Lake in sort of the southern half of the fire,” he added. “Crews have been really focused on both the southeast and western flanks as a top priority areas just to limit spread towards larger communities like Kamloops but then obviously a lot of private property in that southern half.”

“Mainly, there has been growth in sort of the northeastern part of the fire, so that’s where we are seeing some heightened fire behaviour over the last few days.”

Late Wednesday, the Thompson-Nicola Regional District downgraded part of an evacuation order that covered 110 properties along Kamloops Lake that are now on evacuation alert.

“Thats just directly related to the good work that our crews and everyone the fire has been putting in,” Tower said. “We were able to put in that recommendation to downgrade from order to an alert in the Alpine Valley area. That’s 110 properties that can now have people back in them.”

The suspected human caused fire has been burning for over a month since it was discovered on June 28. Tower says it could be quite a while before it can eventually be classified as ‘being held’ mainly because of just how big of a fire it is.

“This is a project fire that will most likely be ongoing for several weeks, if not months just given the size of it till we can accurately and safely the status of the fire until it eventually gets into the out status is going to be quite a while still,” he added. “With the geography and the distances that these guards need to be put in on, its still quite challenging to keep ahead of the fire and get those lines in.”

“We’re still plugging away at it.”

According to the BC Wildfire Service there are 78 firefighters, nine helicopters, and 32 pieces of heavy equipment on the scene. There are also three structure protection crews (15 personnel), four structure protection unit trailers, and one structure protection specialist on scene.

“Structure Protection crews are continuing to apply FireSmart principles and triage communities as needed,” the BCWS said. “Structure protection systems in place will be active as required.”

For the latest information on the Sparks Lake Fire, go here. For the latest on evacuation orders or alerts in the TNRD, go here.