The wildfire damage done Friday night in Scotch Creek wasn鈥檛 as bad as he feared, but Jay Simpson said numerous spot fires remain.

The Electoral Area F director was back in the North Shuswap Saturday morning, Aug. 19. He said bridges in the area, including the wooden one along Squilax-Anglemont Road at Scotch Creek, were still standing and intact. As for other structures in Scotch Creek he could see from Squilax-Anglemont Road, he guessed about half remained standing.

鈥淭he weird thing about fires is it鈥檚 hit and miss, it can take one and leave another,鈥� said Simpson. 鈥淚 would say just on this brief pass through that 50 to 60 per cent of Scotch Creek is okay or minimal damage.鈥�

Through a series of posts shared on his Jay, North Shuswap Info page on Facebook, Simpson shared other comments about what he was seeing. He said Hilliam Road did not fair, with the fields on the south side having burnt. He said noted a couple of homes heading north of town were gone.

In town, Simpson said the Home Hardware looked to be intact, Bayside looked okay, the backside of Caravans West looked good, though there were spot fires there.

鈥淟ots to the south of (Express Point), can鈥檛 really tell if there鈥檚 any buildings gone, but I think in general it looks okay,鈥� posted Simpson.

鈥淪cotch Creek market field, lotta burnt grass, except where they鈥檝e pump the water into it which is right where the market is,鈥� Simpson continued. 鈥淏TUs is okay, at this time. The other houses down (Squilax-Anglemont) down to Jimco seem to be good. Provincial Park looks intact.鈥�

鈥淭urning up Eli Road things look pretty good. All the houses up to North Shuswap Christian fellowship okay鈥� Came back on Squilax-Anglemont. Everything seems to look pretty good, all diamonds etc. are intact.鈥�

Simpson said he hadn鈥檛 been to Anglemont but talked to some people who, despite some downed trees and power lines, were able to get through, 鈥渟o all of the bridges between Anglemont and here are intact.鈥�

Driving to Lee Creek, Simpson said he鈥檇 received word the top of Lee Creek Heights didn鈥檛 make it, but from Squilax-Anglemont things appeared to be intact.

Throughout his drive, Simpson noted spot fires burning all over. He said no firefighters could be seen. Instead, community members/businesses that stayed behind were attempting to knock out the fires.

鈥淪pooner Industrial has got three or four water tankers in the Scotch Creek area, and they鈥檙e stopping around to put out spot fires,鈥� said Simpson, who urged anyone in the area who could to help.

鈥淎nybody that鈥檚 in the area, there is value in you coming here and helping out,鈥� said Simpson in a post. 鈥淲inds come up today and we could be in for more damage.鈥�

Simpson said the BC Wildfire Service camp at the Skwilax airstrip left around 2 p.m. on Friday.

The Observer will provide more information as it comes available.

Read more:

Read more:

for our newsletter to get Salmon Arm stories in your inbox every morning.

F