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Princeton fire 80 per cent contained

Crews employ drone to find hotspots
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The fire burning north of Princeton is now 80 per cent contained, according to Wildfire BC’s incident management team deputy commander Brent Zbaraschuk.

“We are going to have a good day,” he said Thursday morning.

Crews focused efforts yesterday on the southwestern part of the blaze – the area closest to Princeton.

While some of the new containment is a result of that strategy, it is still a problem spot, said Zbaraschuk.

“That area, the southwest, is still heavy in timer and still requires some work, but we made good progress with it. We are hoping to button that up today.”

Last night for the first time crews employed a drone to flyer over the fire’s perimeter with an infrared camera.

“It helps us find all the hotspots,” he said.

The drone flies at night and in the early morning.

“That will continue through the next couple of days.”

There are 168 firefighters assigned to Princeton today, 10 helicopters and 22 pieces of heavy equipment are either in use or on standby.



Andrea DeMeer

About the Author: Andrea DeMeer

Andrea is the publisher of the Similkameen Spotlight.
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