By Josh Hoffman - The Drive News - Cranbrook

East Kootenay Lamb Creek blaze growing – 400+ properties under evacuation order

Sep 4, 2017 | 4:38 PM

CRANBROOK, B.C. –  Over 400 properties in the East Kootenay region remain under evacuation orders due to several wildfires.

The majority of the affected properties are in the north and south Moyie area which are being threatened by the growing Lamb Creek wildfire.

As of Monday (Sept 4) morning the blaze has reached 1,400 hectares.

The wind direction changed and was blowing from the north, so the fire growth was on the south/southwest side of the fire.

In that area, the fire was more active higher on the ridge away from the lake.

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The heavy equipment operators worked through the night building control lines and personnel are back on site.

The BC Wildfire Service says 50 personnel, three helicopters and 14 pieces of heavy equipment are being used in the efforts.

Evacuation orders are also in place for properties in the Whiteswan Lake and Whiteswan Provincial park area and for Newgate/West Koocanusa including Gold Bay south to the border.

Meanwhile, four precautionary Evacuation Alerts have been issued in our region.

Alerts, which warn residents of potential or impending danger, are in place for 136 properties on the east side of Lake Koocanusa in the Grasmere  area.

An alert has been implemented for roughly 100 properties in the Mission-Fort Steele area as well as 36 properties on the Aqam reserve.

The Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) has issued a state of emergency for Area C which is the surrounding Cranbrook area.

A backcountry ban for the Rocky Mountain District and a fire ban for the entire Southeast Fire Centre are also still in place