Progress on wildfires as winds ease

Firefighters in West Kelowna, Kelowna and Lake Country have had what they’ve described as success in taking advantage of improved weather conditions as they tackle blazes across the area.

Further gains are expected to be made by crews Sunday and Monday but there is no timeline for any evacuation orders in West Kelowna to be rescinded.

The McDougall Creek wildfire northwest of West Kelowna remains out of control and almost doubled in size in the last 24 hours, to an estimated 11,000 hectares, but a lack of significant wind Saturday and overnight into Sunday enabled progress.

There was little new fire activity in Kelowna, and in Lake Country there were also gains made.

“It was a good day for us to fight fire here in the Central Okanagan,” Jerrad Schroeder with the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) said at a media briefing Sunday. “That’s not to take away from all of the challenges everyone faces. We made some good progress.”

Schroeder said the better conditions helped BCWS crews get a foothold on establishing control lines on the south and west sides of the huge fire.

A total of 500 firefighters are now working the blaze.

‘Moving forward not backwards’

Meanwhile, West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund said his crews were feeling like things are moving forward rather than backwards.

“I say things are looking up because we’ve been able to do what we call ‘regular’ firefighting. We’ve been able to get out to the control lines... gets boots on the ground and put water where water needs to be,” he explained.

Outside help continues to arrive, and not just additional firefighters from around the province.

Brolund highlighted the arrival of the first wave of the Canada Task Force, a self-contained heavy urban team of search and rescue, fire, police and engineering personnel who will scour the streets to help ‘stabilize’ the situation as he put it. They operate without any need for assistance from other firefighters already on the ground.

Despite the improving news, Brolund said there would be no lifting of evacuation orders Sunday and people needed to remain patient.

“We’re dealing with the [challenges] on an epic scale and there are a million points of fire still out there across our community,” he said.

And while he admitted some people have lost their homes, most have been saved and he again highlighted the efforts and bravery of crews.

“There are lots of backyards where the fire has come right to your patio furniture, and it has been stopped there due to the efforts of the 500 people fighting in the ground,” he said.

Kelowna

Kelowna Fire Chief Travis Whiting echoed the sentiments about it being a successful time over the previous 24 hours in dealing with the impacts of the Clifton/McKinley wildfire.

He said crews dealt with some flare ups overnight but there was no new activity and while the thick smoke layer did bring challenges for crews it also supressed the sun’s intensity.

“We are able to seek and destroy any perimeter fires around structures,” he said. “We’ll be going neighborhood to neighborhood and working directly behind homes to cool off and extinguish any fires around the perimeter of homes.”

The first evacuation order to be rescinded in Kelowna happened Sunday afternoon when residents of the UBCO campus and Quail Ridge learned they were being put back on evacuation alert.

Lake Country

Lake Country Fire Chief Darren Lee also reported success on tackling the blazes on the east side of the lake and how crews would be able to focus more of their attention on structural protection in the days to come.

He was emotional when recounting the fire fight, choking back tears when speaking of the efforts of his crews; ordinary people working to save their neighbours' property.

“There are people up there working 36, 48 hours shifts,” he said .” They take an absolute beating. They know their family has been evacuated while they try to defend their neighbour’s home, and they just keep going.”

All updates on evacuation orders, alerts and mapping can be found here.