Wildfires

Five new wildfires are burning in the region as a result of lightning over the long weekend.

The BC Wildfire Service has pegged the fire at 0.03 hectares and says it is suspected to be human-caused.

The fire on the north side of Mount Mackie is listed at 182.5 hectares. It's the largest wildfire burning in the West Kootenay, but it poses no threat to homes or to Highway 3.

Of the handful of wildfires that broke out in the West Kootenay over the long weekend, the largest is burning west of Castlegar, on the north side of Mt. Mackie.

B.C. Wildfire Services are responding to the MacLeod Creek wildfire, located approximately eight kilometres north of Nakusp on the east side of Highway 23.

A small brush fire near Oostichenia has been deemed under control.  

Local fire services are still awaiting information on a fire burning south of the border, near North Point in the state of Washington.

A series of small wildfires have sprouted up throughout the West Kootenay and Creston Valley.

Snowpacks in the Kootenays are considerably lower this June compared to last June, but the BC Wildfire Service says that doesn’t automatically mean this wildfire season will be worse.