Thousands of residents set to flee massive wildfire
3,700 properties on evacuation alert, hundreds more already ordered to leave
Thousands of residents near a dangerous B.C. wildfire were preparing to leave their homes Friday in case the wind picks up and pushes the flames closer to their Penticton neighbourhood.
The Christie Mountain wildfire, which has grown to 20 square kilometres, is burning on a steep hillside near the Okanagan city.
Penticton resident Katya Holloway says she is watching the situation closely and fears she may have to leave her house, depending on whether the forecasted winds push the fire closer to the community.
Her home is on the hill above Skaha Lake. It is one of 3,700 properties on evacuation alert. Hundreds more have already been ordered to leave.
“They are expecting that it is going to get worse today,” she said on Friday morning. “So the city was asking everyone on alert to prepare to leave fast.”
The B.C. Wildfire Service said there were 132 firefighters battling the blaze, assisted by 15 helicopters and other crews.
Sixty more firefighters and one helicopter were expected to arrive to battle the fire today.
The service said it was increasing the number of teams capable of setting up sprinkler systems to protect more of the 3,700 homes lying in the possible path of the fire.
Holloway, who used to work for The Vancouver Sun and write about the summer wildfire season, now finds herself preparing for the worst, as the fire creeps to within two kilometres of her home.
Holloway packed up her car and a bag Wednesday night, and said her family — including her husband and their three daughters — is ready to go. She is confident her neighbourhood will be OK, but she is concerned because the area is surrounded by very dry pine trees.
The neighbourhood is home to many families and lots of children, said Holloway.
“There will be a lot of families uprooted if it heads this way today,” she said.
Wind gusts up to 60 km/h were in the forecast, and are expected to come from the south, which would blow the fire north toward Penticton.
The regional district asked families on alert to pre-register at ess.gov.bc.ca so that they don’t need to line up at the evacuation centre to register. The district says this is to help keep the numbers low at the evacuation centre during a pandemic.
As part of COVID-19 protocols, evacuees are asked to wear a mask, and only a certain number will be allowed in at a time. They will also be asked to keep at a two-metre distance from other evacuees in line.
Interior Health has a plan for those evacuees who are self-isolating, and anyone who has been asked to leave their homes but is feeling sick is asked to call 811 before they go to an evacuation centre, according to Eric Thompson, a spokesman for the district.
Interior Health Braemore Lodge, a long-term care home, is within the evacuation zone and Interior Health is relocating nine of its residents and accompanying care teams to Mount Ida Mews long-term care home in Salmon Arm.
Nearby hospitals throughout the region are preparing to receive patient transfers from Penticton Regional Hospital in the event it is ordered to evacuate.
Interior Health says it has identified people in isolation because of the COVID -19 virus. If the evacuation zone is expanded, those residents will be kept separate from the community.
OTHER BLAZES
In southeastern B.C., a foursquare kilometre wildfire burning west of Canal Flats has exploded to 30 square kilometres in size, but it’s not immediately threatening more properties, with just 10 on evacuation order.
And residents of a development on Lillooet Lake, north of Vancouver, have been ordered out because heavy rain, coupled with a wildfire on the steep hills above their properties, has the potential to cause a damaging debris flow or cut off the only road to the area.
The evacuation order from the Squamish-lillooet Regional District says there is an “imminent risk” that burned trees and other debris could sweep down Mccullock Creek or Catiline Creek just east of Pemberton.
Downpours affecting the Pemberton area are also forecast to drench much of B.C.’S lower south coast, including Vancouver, and Environment and Climate Change Canada has posted rainfall warnings for Howe Sound and the extreme northeast corner of B.C.