‘Everyone can go home’ in Kelowna, but threats remain in West Kelowna

The two smaller blazes in the trio of wildfires burning in the area have been classified as ‘held’ and all residents in evacuation zones will be able to return home in Kelowna.

It remains a different picture in West Kelowna where BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) crews are undertaking at least one planned ignition on the McDougall Creek Wildfire to clear flammable fuels ahead of expected warmer temperatures and more aggressive fire behavior for the weekend.

Exciting news for Kelowna

Kelowna Fire Chief Travis Whiting said it’s great news to learn the fires in Kelowna, as well as Lake Country, are held, suggesting that status had been arrived earlier than he’d hoped for given the challenges of the last week.

“This is really exciting news, I can tell you the mood at the fire hall is very, very high and very positive,” an emotional Whiting told a media briefing Thursday.

“We’re super excited. We’re going to get everyone home tonight.”

Whiting said the ending of evacuation orders would be done systematically neighborhood by neighborhood throughout Thursday to avoid a rush and to ensure an orderly return. He said crews would deal with danger trees and check for hazards before each area was given the go ahead.

In West Kelowna however, the return home for thousands of evacuees will be much slower because of the wide differences in damage across neighborhoods, fire chief Jason Brolund said. He would not speculate on a timeframe for the end to evacuation orders.

Planned ignitions

“Primarily, there’s two main reasons why we continue to keep people out [of their homes]: the first is because there’s still fire in your neighborhood… and the second is, there’s still the risk of fire.”

Brolund said planned ignitions by BCWS would be visible on the fire above the community and people should not be scared by what appears to be increased fire behavior.

“People are going to see it and they’re going to think things are getting worse again and it's not,” he explained. “It’s part of making things better.”

'Nightmare' scenario in Traders Cove

Meanwhile, the worst impacted area of the McDougall Creek Wildfire, further north up the lake in the Traders Cove area, has been described as a nightmare situation by Wilson’s Landing Fire Chief Paul Zydowicz.

“This fire has and continues to be a fire chief’s nightmare,” Zydowicz said, noting the White Rock fire of two years ago paled in comparison.

He said thirteen members of his fire department lost their own homes while fighting to save those of others. Ninety properties, involving many more structures were lost in the blaze.

He said the speed and ferocity of the fire last week was unprecedented.

“We were dealing with 10 to 15 structures on fire within 10 to 15 minutes of ignition,” he said.

As always, the public should check the regional district’s Emergency Operation Centre website here for updates and info on any rescinding of evacuation orders.