Brush fire near hospital in Kamloops, B.C., sends smoke billowing through city

UPDATE — June 27: In a Facebook post at 8 p.m. Thursday, the city said the fire was being held and crews would remain on scene overnight.

The air is thick with smoke in Kamloops, B.C., as a brush fire burns behind the local hospital.

Crews are fighting the fire, which is burning on a hill just south of Royal Inland Hospital in the city, about 250 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, near Peterson Creek Park.

The city has asked residents to avoid the lower Peterson Creek area while crews are on scene, according to a Facebook post.

The fire was discovered on Thursday and is suspected to be human-caused, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service dashboard, a broad category covering any fire not started by lightning. The blaze has since grown to just over three hectares as of Friday morning.

Royal Inland patient Kaedyn Bert said he saw the fire start from his room on the sixth floor of the hospital.

"It was raging for a good few minutes," he said.

He said at least one tree became engulfed in flames and "went up like a campfire."

"Thankfully, we have really good first responders in Kamloops here," Bert said.

The B.C. Wildfire Service says it is dispatching support to Kamloops Fire Rescue. 

Kamloops Fire Rescue did not immediately provide comment.

In a statement to CBC News, a spokesperson for Interior Health said they are aware of the fire and are monitoring the situation.

They said the hospital remains open, and procedures are in place to support patients, residents and staff should evacuation be required.

"Currently, there is no direct risk to any of our facilities," the spokesperson said. "As a precaution, we are redirecting traffic away from the impacted area."