Raging B.C. wildfire destroys 29 homes

OLIVER, B.C. Residents in southeastern British Columbia are regrouping from an immense and fast-spreading wildfire that has so far wiped out 29 homes and forced hundreds to flee with little more than the clothes on their backs.

Kerstin Klenheimer and her husband deserted their house when the 37-square-kilometre Rock Creek fire broke out Thursday evening. On Sunday she stood next to a charred piece of property on the shoulder of a nearby highway and stared in the distance at the fire burning near her house.

“It was like a tornado coming — a fire tornado coming up the valley,” she said, recalling the moments before their hasty departure. “There was no time. You just have to run.

“It’s just been a frightening few days and my heart goes out to all the people in Samora, Westbridge (and) Rock Creek,” Klenheimer said. “Let's just band together and get through this.”

The biggest challenge to fighting the several aggressive blazes that have flared up across the region has been the strong and gusty winds, said Kevin Skrepnek of the B.C. Wildfire Service on Sunday. “When you see (that) the growth on these fires largely happened in their initial stages, it speaks to the fact that this truly was a wind event that came through that area and really fanned these fires and caused them to grow so quickly,” he said.

The wildfire service hasn’t called for any significant wind on Sunday, said Alan Stanley of the Kootenay Boundary Regional District. But that situation could change quickly, he warned.

“You can’t guarantee anything with a wildfire,” he said. “It is bold, all-caps ‘unpredictable’ with several exclamation marks.”

The aggressive blaze forced campers at the Kettle River Provincial Park to rush out on foot last week, leaving nearly everything behind, including vehicles and trailers, said Stanley. Groups of about 10 to 15 campers would be allowed back starting at noon on Sunday, he added.

“It was like a tornado coming — a fire tornado coming up the valley.” – Kerstin Klenheimer, B.C.

wildfire evacuee

Some 220 fires continue to burn across B.C., out of a total of more than 1,600 that have sparked since Apr. 1. More than 900 people remain under evacuation order across the province, including 240 in the Rock Creek area.

Some evacuation orders in the area were recently downgraded to alerts, meaning the occupants of 88 homes and businesses were allowed to return. Other orders remain in effect however, and the district said the RCMP will continue to patrol evacuated areas.

Another two wildfires in the heart of B.C.’s wine country continued to smoulder on Sunday, with scores of residents still forced from their homes.

Two fires raged near the picturesque tourist town of Oliver in the Okanagan Valley. Though residents affected by the three-square-kilometre Wilsons Mountain fire were allowed home Saturday, about 110 people living near the 15-square kilometre Testalinden Creek fire remained under evacuation order.

B.C. Wildfire Service reported that a stray drone had grounded fire aircraft at the Testalinden fire. This is at least the second instance so far this year where a drone has interfered with firefighting efforts.

Spud Torrao watched as flames engulfed the hillside directly next to his three-acre hobby farm on Sunday. Oliver Fire Department crews attacked the blaze with a hose as a massive water bomber doused the fire.

He said he was barbecuing on Friday evening when the Testalinden Creek fire first broke out on the mountain.

“I said, ‘Oh god, fire.’ The wind was just hollering. I said, ‘Oh boy, this is going to be bad. This is going to be bad.’”