The Keremeos Volunteer Fire Department and BC Wildfire Service crews helped extinguish a fire threatening structures near the Lower Similkameen Indian Band's offices south of Cawston on Canada Day.
The department was called out to the fire at around 9:45 p.m., Fire Chief Jordy Bosscha said, and responded with two fire engines and a water tender.
Nine firefighters travelled with the vehicles and another nine staged at the office in case they needed reinforcements.
"Seven firefighters and two engines were on scene for just over two hours, and the water tender and two firefigheters were on scene for another hour and a half assisting forestry," said Bosscha.
In a social media post from the LSIB that thanked the KVFD for responding, they added that a night-vision equipped helicopter was being deployed by the BCWS to monitor the area for hotspots.
By 9:30 a.m. on July 2, the fire was officially declared extinguished by BCWS, at a size of approximately 0.6 hectares with human activity as the suspected cause.
Bosscha said the exact cause hasn't been determined yet and remains under investigation.
Unlike a fire the department responded to in June that was also south of Cawston, this fire was not along the roadside and is less likely to have been caused by a passing vehicle.
