29 Okanagan fires in 4 years linked: RCMP
Fires from 2014 were connected and deliberate, say RCMP
The RCMP says arson is behind as many as 29 wildfires that scorched large swaths of the Okanagan Valley during the past four years.
Mounties believe the fires, which were reported in Naramata, Okanagan Falls, Osoyoos, Oliver, Penticton, Summerland and Lake Country, were all deliberately set and all connected.
“The majority of these fires were lit in ‘interface’ settings,” said RCMP Staff Sgt. Annie Linteau, referring to rural settings with buildings. “One of these fires, which occurred on July 15, 2017, in Lake Country, destroyed a number of homes.”
Eight homes were destroyed in the 0.5-square-kilometre Lake Country wildfire that razed part of the east side of Okanagan Lake last July.
“Thankfully, no one was injured or killed, but the potential for the loss of life was considerable,” said Linteau.
The 2017 wildfire season was the most destructive and expensive in the province’s recorded history.
It cost B.C. more than $560 million to battle 1,351 different fires that burned through an area of 12,164 square kilometres. In May, the Southeast District RCMP, B.C. Wildfire Service and other agencies created a task force to identify the person — or persons — responsible for the wildfires.
Linteau says the task force has the ability to focus on all related historical and future wildfires, regardless of jurisdictional boundaries, which have been caused by arson.