Residents pick up the pieces as wildfire loses intensity
Having faced near- devastation from a hillside inferno, homeowners express gratitude to emergency crews
When Amberlee Ficociello saw the fist- sized ember smouldering one metre from her garage door, she knew it was time to get out.
“Literally you could see it coming, the burning and the fire and the smoke,” she said. “The house was filled with smoke.”
Ficociello and her husband, Dean, run a horse boarding ranch atop the hillside community threatened with devastation this week after a wildfire erupted Sunday afternoon near Peachland, destroying four houses and forcing the evacuation of more than 1,500 people.
Her challenge? To transport 19 quarter horses, Friesians and Warmbloods to ranches in Kelowna before the flames reached the property line.
“They get panicky,” she said of the steeds. “One of them ended up with a bloody nose, because it was five months old and her first trailer ride.”
Ficociello was among nearly 200 Peachland residents allowed to return to their homes Tuesday morning after 30 hours under evacuation from the wildfire. She joined roughly 1,100 people heading back to their properties, while 258 people remain barred from their homes. The fire just north of the town still burned in pockets across two square kilometres early Tuesday, but by evening was less intense and at least 75 per cent contained, officials said.
For Ficociello, evacuating has become something of a routine. She and her husband helped evacuate horses from ranches south of Kelowna in 2003, when a wildfire wiped out 334 homes and left the hills above the eastern shores of Okanagan Lake a parched and sparsely treed rump of its former greenery.
“You know, 2003 taught B. C. a lot about fires,” she said. “They don’t waste any time bringing in the gear now. Like it was a war zone here with helicopters.”
Ficociello also assisted in the fire- prompted evacuation of residents and animals in nearby Glenrosa three years ago.
“I’ve been told I did pretty good,” she said, laughing. “I certainly internally felt pretty amazingly frazzled.”
She praised fire crews for their responsiveness, claiming she had become almost too casual as a result.
“Like we lost our cable and we went, ‘ What, are you kidding, we lost cable?’
“Smokin’ amazing. I just can’t say enough about them getting the animals out. Because ( the fire) was on our doorstep.”
Elsewhere fire crews were working to contain the fire.
Doug Goubault, general manager at the Ponderosa Golf Course, regrets the damage the fire caused the links, still under construction. But the break in foliage offered by the fairways acted as a kind of moat, preventing further spread of the fire in his area.
“They were fully engulfed,” he said of six holes, “but we feel fortunate to have not too much superficial damage and that the fire didn’t continue up the side of the mountain. That buffer clearly stopped that fire from coming up.”
Emergency crews turned the course into a makeshift operations base, landing helicopters and planting water storage tankers.
“I watched those guys work that fire for two days. They’re amazing. They’re young kids and they’re doing a great job,” Goubault said.
Jim Mottishaw, a Wildfire Management forest protection officer, confirmed the course’s utility: “From the start we knew we’d use the golf course as a tool to corral the fire, and for the most part that’s what happened.”
Asked if he was grateful, he said: “Absolutely. It aided with our dealing with the fire, no question.”
Kris Klumpner, one of the 258 people still under evacuation, stopped by the Lions Club Community Centre in West Kelowna on Tuesday afternoon. The electrical contractor was there with his two children, Tyler and Meghan, to make use of the $ 150 food and incidentals voucher offered by the Central Okanagan Regional District and paid for by the province.
“I’m still worried about the house,” he said. “There’ll be a bunch of smoke damage and retardant on it I expect.”
Of the firefighters he was more positive: “They’re doing a real good job. It’s damn hard work out there.”
Kamloops Fire Centre spokeswoman Michaela Swan confirmed the fire was largely contained Tuesday evening but noted all returning residents remained under an evacuation alert and should be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice.
Cooler temperatures, low wind and light rain overnight Monday worked in favour of the 150 firefighters and crew monitoring the still active fire, said Wildfire Management spokesman Kevin Skrepnek.