The B.C. government is asking tourists to not travel to the North Okanagan because of an expected increased fire activity at the White Rock Lake Fire in the next 72 hours.

That includes the communities of Armstrong, Enderby, Spallumcheen, and parts of the North Okanagan Regional District, and the Okanagan Indian Band.

“We feel this fire will continue to grow and get more aggressive,” B.C. Forests Minister Katrine Conroy told media during an expected BC Wildfire briefing Friday afternoon.

As well, Public Safety Minister, Mike Farnworth is asking people to avoid non-essential travel to the Kelowna area because of the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak there.

“We’ve seen a big rise in cases today, many attributed to an outbreak in the region,” he said. “This along with ash and localized smoke means that this is not the time to visit.”

Farnworth says wildfire crews are preparing for significant winds and hot weather this weekend, and is asking people to do what they can to prevent wildfires.

“We are taking this proactive step [and banning travel] because the safety of people and communities is paramount,” Farnworth added. “We want to make sure people in these communities will be able to evacuate, if necessary, access the supports they need as well as the safety of our firefighters on the ground.

“We also want to make sure that evacuees have a safe place to stay if they are forced from their homes, preferably in the region where they usually reside.”

At that same Friday press conference, the director of provincial operations with the BC Wildfire Service, Cliff Chapman, said strong winds are expected to arrive on Saturday, before getting stronger on Sunday.

“On Saturday we’ll see winds sustained 20 to 30 km/hr, gusting beyond that with local features such as lakes and valleys,” he said. “On Sunday, we’ll see an increase in those winds to 50 to 60 km/hr, gusting higher with terrain features and lake features on some of our fires, including the White Rock Lake Fire.”

Chapman says if these winds arrive into B.C., it will lead to aggressive fire behaviour.

“As we have seen through the course of this wildfire season, it has the potential to impact structures,” he added. “The potential impact of this forecasted weather is a direct threat to life and property and it is on that basis that we urge all British Columbians to heed the warnings being provided today and further alerts and orders that may be put in place.”

Chapman adds the winds are strong enough to have the potential for embers to push out ahead of the existing fires, leading to significant growth.

White Rock Lake Fire Incident Commander, Mark Healey, says the increase in fire activity is a result of an increase in temperatures and the ongoing heat wave.

“Friday and Saturday I believe the forecast is into highs of 38 C, so the way that that impacts the fire is that it continues to dry out the fuel,” he said. “Hot weather doesn’t obviously help with fire.”

The BC Wildfire Service is expecting to see rank two to rank four behaviour on the White Rock Lake wildfire today, with Healey noting firefighters are monitoring the situation and making adjustments daily.

“My weather forecasters are telling me it is going to be a very unstable atmosphere and that means winds,” he added. “I think we take it day by day, and fine tune our weather forecasts and our fire behaviour forecasts every day to determine where the fire may or may not go. Based on that is where we put our resources.”

There were plans for aerial planned ignitions taking place today along the east flank of the fire in the Westside Road area from Naswhito Creek to Whiteman Creek to reduce fuel for the fire to burn, if conditions allowed.

Given the expected increase in fire activity this weekend, heavy equipment and crews are being moved to priority areas along the north, northeast, and east flanks of the White Rock Lake Fire.

“For sure the fire will grow. We do take it day by day. However, we also do advanced planning – a three to five day outlook, a 10, 15, and 30 day outlook to try to determine where they are going to progress and where they are going to advance to,” Healey added.

“And then, we can plan ahead and put our control lines in and start preparing for where that fire is going to be.”

The White Rock Lake Fire is estimated at 58,000 hectares – or 580 square kilometres – and it is still burning out of control.

Travel Warning in effect for parts of interior #BC including the communities of #Armstrong, #Spallumcheen, Okanagan Indian Band, #Enderby & parts of the Regional District North #Okanagan. More info: https://t.co/bdZZmYKt8I #BCwildfire pic.twitter.com/ZWKfTjZ8SH

— Emergency Info BC (@EmergencyInfoBC) August 13, 2021