Fire, smoke may be seen near Merritt as firefighters train

Smoke may be visible from Merritt this weekend as the B.C. Wildfire Service trains firefighters for the upcoming wildfire season.

The B.C. Wildfire Service is conducting annual training in the Coutlee Plateau area outside of Merritt and at Stake Lake, approximately 20 kilometres from Kamloops, according to the service's Facebook post.

"As part of this field-focused training, live fire will be used through the next week to create realistic training scenarios. All use of fire will be supervised by fully trained and certified wildfire personnel at all times. Smoke may be visible to the surrounding communities."

This season so far, the wildfire service has responded to 98 wildfires.

The service published its first monthly forecast of the season, May 4, and expects normal fire conditions throughout the province for May.

The 2021 fire season ended with elevated drought conditions in the far north, southeast, and central interior of B.C. Prolonged drought at the end of a fire season increases potential for fire activity the following spring, according to the service.

With Kamloops, Kelowna and Cranbrook having less precipitation than average, the wildfire service is carefully monitoring those areas.

READ MORE: B.C. Wildfire Service 'carefully monitoring' Kamloops, Kelowna areas this month

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