The Palmer Lake wildfire burning south of the Canada/U.S. border near Osoyoos has grown to 4,500 hectares — 45 square kilometres — Friday, with the Town of Osoyoos emergency operations centre saying it is burning roughly 11 kilometres southwest of Oroville.
Firefighters were working overnight Thursday and made significant progress conducting burn-out operations in the vicinity of Wannacut Lake and around Palmer Lake lodge, according to the latest release from the Town of Osoyoos EOC.
Osoyoos town staff have been in contact with U.S. organizations with conference calls this week.
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced the release of federal emergency funding Friday morning.
“FEMA Region 10 Deputy Administrator Vincent Maykovich determined that the fire threatened to cause such destruction as would constitute a major disaster. He approved the state of Washington’s request for a federal Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) at 5:43 p.m. PDT on Thursday.”
There are 398 personnel fighting the fire which is burning roughly 6 kilometres from the border and has been visible from Osoyoos for much of the past few days.
Winds blowing from the south fanned both the Christie Mountain wildfire on the southeast end of Penticton and the Palmer Lake fire Friday afternoon.
A total of 30 structures were lost on the U.S. side of the border according to the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. The National Guard was also called in to assist as a state of emergency was declared due to multiple fires breaking out across Washington earlier this week.
#PalmerFire has grown to 11,191 acres, with 30 structures lost. The fire remains 0 percent contained as crews continue to work to slow its progress.
— Washington State DNR Wildfire (@waDNR_fire) August 21, 2020
Today crews focussed on mopping-up hot spots and structure protection while reinforcing and improving fire lines. More burn-out operations may happen, but this will be dependent on favourable weather conditions and wind direction, officials said.
Friday afternoon, a cold front is forecast to arrive over the fire bringing strong wind gusts, challenging the strength of fire lines. National Guard helicopters will continue to support the fire with water drops.
B.C. Wildfire Service is not providing updates on the status of the fire as it remains out of Canadian jurisdiction. Updates can be found on the Okanogan County Emergency Management website as well as by following the #WaWILDFIRE or #Palmerfire hashtags on Twitter.
A webcam feed can be viewed here.
