As extreme drought conditions continue throughout the province of British Columbia, residents in the Okanagan grow more concerned about new wildfires every day. After a grass fire at a slope above Kalamalka Lake on the previous day and the following night, smoke was spotted a few miles west of Becker Lake. High winds ignited a spot fire to to a blaze of several hectares. Air tankers and helicopters from Kamloops and Vernon fought the wildfire for most of the day. All photos and the short video were taken free-handed with Panasonic’s Lumix DMC FZ300 at maximum focal length of 600 mm.
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| ▲ Wildfire smoke seen billowing above Vernon Camera: Lumix DMC FZ300 Aperture: f/8 > Shutter: 1/320 |
▲ Strong winds whip the fire north Camera: Lumix DMC FZ300 Aperture: f/8 > Shutter: 1/320 |
▲ Conair aerial tanker 566 circling above Camera: Lumix DMC FZ300 Aperture: f/8 > Shutter: 1/320 |
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| ▲ A Kaman K-MAX helicopter in bucketing Camera: Lumix DMC FZ300 Aperture: f/3.2 > Shutter: 1/1300 |
Conair air tanker 566 dropping retardant Camera: Lumix DMC FZ300 Aperture: f/8 > Shutter: 1/320 |
▲ A Kaman K-MAX helicopter in action Camera: Lumix DMC FZ300 Aperture: f/3.2 > Shutter: 1/1300 |
On Saturday afternoon (2021-07-10), the BC Wildfire Service had 26 personnel on scene fighting the Becker Lake wildfire, alongside with 4 helicopters and air tanker support. At the time of this report, the fire was still classified as out of control and it encompassed a size of approximately 10 hectares.