Winds drive huge blaze away from Peachland
55 properties in path of 1,500-hectare forest fire ordered evacuated
Winds were beginning to intensify fire activity Monday afternoon on a massive blaze burning between Peachland and Summerland.
The Finlay Creek fire had stayed relatively stagnant at about 1,500 hectares between Sunday and Monday.
“What we’re seeing right now is the winds picking up a little,” Heather Rice, a provincial fire information officer, said Monday afternoon. “That’s pushing the fire in a southerly direction.”
The southern edge of the blaze, which erupted Saturday afternoon in a remote area seven kilometres southwest of Peachland, was near the south shore of Darke Lake.
That was just over one kilometre from one of the more northerly of 55 properties ordered evacuated on Sunday. Most of the evacuated properties are in an area of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen known locally as Meadow Valley.
On Monday, the fire was classed at rank three, or a moderately vigorous surface fire with the occasional candling of treetops.
There was nothing to indicate that any homes or structures had been lost to the fire, which is burning on Crown land.
Three helicopters and four fixed-wing aircraft were working the fire, along with 23 firefighters.
Although fire activity was largely to the south, residents of about 300 Peachland properties — roughly between Brent Road, Sherburn Road, Vernon Avenue and Princeton Avenue — remain on evacuation alert and should be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice should conditions change.
With smoke thick in the air and a massive wildfire drawing nearer to his Meadow Valley home, Werner Jungling and his wife said goodbye to their horses midafternoon Sunday and sought refuge in Summerland.
Their property on Meadow Valley Road was one of 55 ordered evacuated due to the Finlay Creek fire, which sparked Saturday in a rural area west of Highway 97 approximately halfway between Summerland and Peachland.
The evacuation order covers homes on Fish Lake, Osborne, Savanna, Relkey and Meadow Valley roads, plus Marsh Lane and the entire Darke Lake Provincial Park.
Jungling’s property backs up to the north end of Garnet Lake, from which he had a spectacular view of the first night of firefighting efforts.
“On Saturday evening, we saw the flames in Peachland — huge flames,” he said.
Jungling was told by an emergency official who delivered the evacuation order that the fire was then only one kilometre away.
At that, he and his wife packed up their car and left without their two horses, which he believes to be in good hands.
“They’re safe. They’re outside and the fire guy knows how to open the gate in case,” said Jungling, who praised the “awesome” emergency workers and volunteers he’s encountered.
The couple registered at a reception centre at the Summerland arena, and have since moved into a local motel.
As of 4 p.m. Monday, the Junglings were among 98 evacuees who had checked in at the centre, according to the Regional District of OkanaganSimilkameen.
Residents of another 97 properties in the Faulder area to the south of the evacuation zone have been warned to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
RDOS staffers went door to door in Faulder on Sunday night asking people to reduce their water use, after attempts to soak homes and properties put a major dent in the local water supply, which could have hampered firefighting efforts.