This will leave 'a long-lasting scar' says West Kelowna fire chief

The resounding words of West Kelowna's fire chief, Jason Brolund, echoed with unmistakable clarity: this relentless wildfire has etched an indelible mark in West Kelowna.

“It’s become evident that this event is going to leave a long-lasting scar on our community,” he said at a Saturday morning press conference. “But I’m already seeing how our community’s coming together, and I’m looking forward to the continued progress. And this scar will become a good one.”

He added that multiple structures were lost yesterday again in West Kelowna with the fight continuing the ground today.

Currently, a contingent of 127 structural firefighters is diligently engaging in the day shift, bolstered by 41 firetrucks dispatched from across the province.

A glimmer of hope has emerged as the fire managed to skirt past the West Kelowna water treatment plant on Friday night, leaving the structure unscathed.

Brolund touched on the most frequent questions being asked: when can people go home? And when will we know about our homes?

In addressing the first questions, his response was candid and succinct: “We don’t know.”

“Were working hard to put these fires out and to make it safe for the public so you can go home as quickly as possible.”

Within the ranks of evacuees in West Kelowna, Chief Brolund and several of his staff find themselves sharing the same circumstances.

When addressing about the people’s knowledge about their homes, and the number of homes lost, he said he also was unable to provide an exact number.

“We will start counting the number of houses, when we stop fighting the fires that are burning today,” Brolund said.

The situation extends beyond the fires themselves, with the Rose Valley neighborhood enduring a water outage while the city of West Kelowna enforces stage 4 watering restrictions to preserve this precious resource where it's most needed.

Kelowna Fires

Kelowna Fire Chief Travis Whiting confirmed there was significant fire activity in both Kelowna and Lake Country that carried over into today with the fire moving north is being worked on in with assets from Lake Country all the way to the north end of Glenmore.

Assets are being put in the south end of the Wilden area including structural protection and sprinkler systems in case it turns back on them.

Whiting also emphasized to residents over the next few days, not to underestimate the fire because of the ease of wind coming in.

“We still see a significant amount of fire activity, we still have a lot of potential, and we still have a lot of variables, and are going to be dug in deep working hard over the coming days, weeks to protect all assets that we can and to do the best we can to protect our community,” he said.

He underscored the necessity for safety, urging people to refrain from approaching the fires, which could hinder vital resource transportation and aerial firefighting operations over lakes.

Whiting went on to confirm there has been some structural loss in Kelowna, and was not prepared to speak further until a better assessment.