UPDATED: Wildfire near La Casa grows again, evacuation orders remain

Updated Tuesday 3 p.m.

The wildfire near the La Casa area along Westside Road continues to keep people out of their homes.

Evacuation orders remain in place for 2,223 properties, with alerts affecting another 425 properties.

The 742-hectare wildfire is still out of control, with crews continuing structure protection and fighting hotspots.

-Original story

The Quilpituk Creek Wildfire on the west side of Okanagan Lake has grown again, to 742 hectares from the 565 hectares reported Monday.

This growth, over the past 24 hours, continues to be slope driven, to the northwest, this continues to be up slope and away from community areas.

NVIS (night-vision) continued to work the fire throughout the night, tanking on hot spots to cool more active sections of the fire and minimize further spread. 

Structure protection crews, along with Fire Department crews worked throughout the night. Structure protection and structural defense will continue to be on site today extinguishing hotspots along the community of La Casa. 

Crews continued with danger tree assessment and falling work today along the east flank of the fire, establishing a 10 ft edge on the fire perimeter.

Along the north flank, crews and heavy equipment are progressing west along the flank, conducting danger tree assessment and falling as needed and extending their hoselay as they go for direct suppression of the fire’s edge.  

Crews continue to establish hoselay for water delivery to the fire’s edge and conducting danger tree assessments and falling as they work their way around the fire perimeter. 

Along the south and west flanks, heavy equipment continues to establish a fuel free hand guard, working as far up the slope as they can. Crews and heavy equipment continue to be supported by aerial resources, bucketing on hotspots to cool the fire and slow growth as they worked.