Cooler weather can bring respite from wildfire in southern Okanagan

The BC Wildfire Service is optimistic that cooler weather in the southern Okanagan this week could help crews make inroads on the nearly 28-square kilometre wildfire burning southwest of Penticton.

The fire, sparked Friday, saw explosive growth over the weekend as soaring temperatures helped fuel it as it moved into steep, inaccessible terrain near Apex Mountain.

The resort village is among the more than 300 properties currently evacuated and roughly 400 more homes, farms and businesses are on evacuation alert.

Two other fires, including a nearly two-square kilometre fire northwest of Kamloops and a 15-square kilometre blaze in the Kootenay north of Nelson, have prompted evacuation alerts for a handful of properties, while the evacuation order covering the 31-square-kilometre blaze west of Lytton was downgraded to an alert last week.