Merritt-area fire under control at 808ha; BCWS says more growth possible ‘due to additional burning’

A grass fire that sparked on Lower Nicola Indian Band (LNIB) land near Merritt is now considered to be under control, but the BC Wildfire Service says more growth is still possible.

The Quilchena Creek fire on the LNIB’s Hamilton Creek Indian Reserve No. 7 is still an estimated 808 hectares in size, according to the last update from the BC Wildfire Service issued just before 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 11.

The fire ignited Wednesday afternoon and grew to 150 hectares before it was classified as being held on Thursday. However, it was reclassified as an out of control fire just a few hours later, and was an estimated 550 hectares in size.

The human-caused fire was eventually mapped at 808 hectares in size Friday, with that increase attributed to a nearby cultural burn that had merged with the smaller 150 hectare fire that was been held.

“Yesterday, crews continued to focus their efforts on the east flank of the fire to prevent the fire from crossing Quilchena Creek, using a hose lay for water delivery to support direct attack methods to extinguish the fires edge,” the April 11 statement said.

“The majority of this fire is contained to the Hamilton Creek IR #7, and the objective remains to keep the fire within Hamilton Creek IR #7 boundaries as we continue to work with Lower Nicola Indian Band regarding the management of this incident.”

The BC Wildfire Service also said the overall fire perimeter may still increase further “due to additional burning being conducted unrelated to the original incident.”

The LNIB also issued a statement Friday in defence of cultural burns. It has also granted the province’s Natural Resource Officer Service permission to access the Hamilton Creek Indian Reserve No. 7 until next Friday (April 17) to investigate the fire.