Smoke blanketing southern B.C. triggers warnings, but also helps fight against huge wildfires

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As the southern quarter of British Columbia is warned about the risk of particulates in the air from wildfire smoke, those battling blazes in the Central Okanagan say the smoke is helping their cause.

A special air quality statement and smoky skies bulletin is in place from Vancouver Island east to the Alberta border, as well as in the central Interior, due to smoke from hundreds of wildfires burning across the province.

An additional air quality advisory remains in place for Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, warning of high concentrations of fine particulate matter in the air. 

But while the amount of smoke in the air has been "tough,'' it's also reducing the sun's intensity, which helps the fight against wildfires, said Travis Whiting, the fire chief in Kelowna, B.C.

As crews made progress fighting the fire threatening the Okanagan Valley city on Sunday, Whiting told a news conference he expects they'll continue to take advantage of favourable weather to go into neighbourhoods and extinguish fires around homes in order to create a "guard."

There are more than 380 active wildfires burning across B.C. as of early Monday, fuelled by wind, drought and hot weather that have left landscapes tinder dry.

Of those fires, 157 are deemed out of control while 14 are categorized as fires of note, meaning they are particularly visible or threatening to property.

Whiting said he expects they'll be able to start contacting evacuees over the next few days to inform them if their homes have survived the fire.

So far there is no official count of how many homes have been destroyed, but officials have acknowledged damage is "significant."

An unknown number of homes have also been destroyed in the Shuswap region, where the Bush Creek fire is now burning over 410 square kilometres around Adams Lake and Shuswap Lake.

In a long string of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, the B.C. Wildfire Service said late Sunday that firefighters had made good progress on fires in the Shuswap.

The province is under a state of emergency, and travel to B.C.'s southern Interior has been restricted, preventing tourists from using hotels, motels, RV parks and other temporary accommodations in Kelowna and West Kelowna, Kamloops, Oliver, Osoyoos, Penticton and Vernon, so they can be utilized for evacuees.