Three firefighters and a firetruck from Elkford have been sent to help protect communities from the Tremont Creek wildfire, west of Kamloops.
According to Elkford officials, local coverage will not be impacted, and the community is not currently under threat of any wildfires.
Fire Chief Curtis Nyuli added that the crew can be recalled at any time over their two-week stent helping combat the fire, estimated to be over 62,000 hectares in size.
“As far as manpower, we’re going to be reaching out to other fire departments to fill the next crew that goes out. We’d prefer not to send a full crew of Elkford firefighters and we’ll try to pull from other fire departments to balance things out,” said Nyuli.
District of Elkford officials said the members were sent with one firefighter from the Fairmont Hot Springs department to work alongside other municipal teams in the area.
“They’ve been requested by the office of the Fire Commissioner in response to the provincial State of Emergency that has been called. They request any apparatus and firefighters that are available to assist when necessary,” explained Nyuli. “We had a few firefighters step and some equipment that is not being used, and we were able to reply to their resource request.”
Nyuli said the crew from Elkford and Fairmont Hot Springs has been working hard on night shifts since they were dispatched on Thursday.
“They said they’re getting pretty burnt out because they’re supposed to get so many hours to sleep, but they’ve been called out of their beds during the day and they’re moving them around where the fire is encroaching on different communities. I know they started in Logan Lake, and they’ve moved across to Savona and I believe they’re moving again today,” said Nyuli.
Elkford officials said the fire lines outside of Logan Lake have been holding back the flames so far.
“Our crew forms part of a strike team, comprised of several other engines, water tenders and fire personnel that are working night shifts to fight the wildfire,” said Elkford.
The firefighters will be working in the area for two weeks before they are sent back to their home community.