‘We fought 100 years of fires all in one night,’ says fire chief

West Kelowna’s fire chief is reflecting on the enormity of the task crews battling the McDougall Creek Wildfire faced Thursday night as they attempted to save property, and, in at least one case, people’s lives.

He said while they’d planned for it to be difficult, it was ‘exponentially worse.’

Jason Brolund said there has been significant property losses, although no specifics are available yet.

The wildfire is measured at an estimated 6,800 hectares, much bigger than the 1,100 hectares estimated on Thursday.

And things were expected to remain challenging given high and unpredictable winds through Friday.

“It was a devastating night last night, probably one of the most devastating of my career; the toughest of all our firefighters’ careers,” Brolund said during a livestreamed media briefing Friday. “We fought hard last night to protect our community. We fought 100 years of fires all in one night.”

Brolund said they had firefighters trapped trying to rescue people on evacuation order who would not leave. He added firefighters worked tirelessly in the West Kelowna Estates area to protect properties.

While he couldn’t give stats on the losses, he said Thursday was “… not about what was lost but what was saved.”

But there was a warning that the battle has barely started.

“It’s not done. Crews are dug in this morning the same way as they were dug in at two o’clock this morning, still trying, madly to save the houses,” Brolund said. “The winds are stronger than they were yesterday. There are homes burning right now and homes at risk.”

Kelowna fires

While West Kelowna has seen extensive property damage, that was not the case in Kelowna as what are presumed to have been flying embers sparked fires across the lake in the Clifton/McKinley areas. Several properties were evacuated.

“Our crews are dug in in the McKinley area offering structural protection,” Fire Chief Travis Whiting said.” So far in Kelowna we have no confirmed structural loss and we are continuing to battle to ensure we protect every home we can.”

Security of evacuation areas

Meanwhile, police have said they have had reports of unauthorized people being in evacuation zones.

“It will remain a priority for our officers to secure those areas that have been evacuated through road blocks and roving patrols,” Acting Officer in Charge Beth McAndie said.

She encouraged anyone who spots anything suspicious – via their home security camera apps for example – to report that to the RCMP.

All evacuation orders, alerts and updates can be found on the Central Okanagan Regional District emergency operations website here.