The latest:
More than a week after the devastating Bald Range wildfire swept through the Summerland area, the majority of the community’s 12,000 residents have been given the go-ahead to return home.
Speaking on CBC’s Daybreak South Tuesday, Summerland Mayor Doug Holmes said the district had downgraded an evacuation order for another 3,380 properties as of 7 a.m. PT.
Holmes said that covers “the majority of Summerland.”
“It’s the news we’ve all been waiting for for the last week,” he said.
Evacuation order lifted for majority of Summerland, B.C., with about 150 structures believed damaged
“We had to do it very carefully, I know there was a lot of frustration, people waiting, I was feeling frustrated myself — but we had to do it properly, and orderly, and this is the big day.”
Holmes said 530 properties remain under evacuation orders, all of them in the Garnet Valley, Prairie Valley and Meadow Valley.
He said crews were still doing geotechnical work to ensure slope stability in the adjacent mountains, and that Garnet Valley was still without power.
He added that the entire community remains under a boil water advisory.
The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen said it was seeking to contact the owners of structures that have been either damaged or destroyed by the Bald Range fire.
“We have counselling available for those individuals,” said Graham Statt, chief administrative officer of the District of Summerland. “We go on site with them if they wish to do so.”
On Monday evening, the regional district released a preliminary estimate that about 150 structures have been damaged or destroyed by the fire.
Statt said about 40 of the structures were in the municipality’s boundaries.
“It’s a rough number, it’s a live number,” said Statt.
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He added the estimate may increase as more information becomes available.
At the moment, it’s unclear what kind of structures were damaged and officials were unable to say how many, if any, were homes.
Firefighters are holding the out-of-control Bald Range wildfire behind control lines on its southern and eastern flanks.
The fire spanned over 210 square kilometres as of Monday evening.
The BCWS said crews will be prioritizing efforts on the fire’s western flank, which is continuing to show aggressive behaviour, though it remains about 18 kilometres away from the Osprey Lake area.
Highway 97 is open, though no exits are permitted into areas that remain under evacuation orders.
Summerland Coun. Erin Trainer told CBC’s On The Coast she was able to return home on Friday.
“I opened the door and it smelled like we’d had a campfire in our house,” said Trainer. “It was quite overwhelming. We had a layer of ash over everything.”
About 800 properties were downgraded from an evacuation order to an alert on Sunday, primarily residents living on the east side of Highway 97, she said.
“Everybody was just relieved to get home,” she said. “They were just happy. Very thankful.”
But she noted some people still can’t return.
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“We’re not OK until everyone’s OK,” she said.
Four major wildfires of note continue to burn out of control, including the Bald Range, Pear Lake, Ainslie Creek and Brunswick Creek fires.
Prior to evacuation orders being lifted for the majority of Summerland on Tuesday, about 10,500 people were under an order across B.C. and another 17,000 people were under alert.
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Hotter temperatures and drier conditions are expected this coming week for B.C., with the exception of the far northwest region of the province.
Winds will continue to remain light in the southern half of the province.
As of Tuesday morning, the Ministry of Environment’s Air Quality Health Index shows smoke is creating “high” health risks in the south Okanagan, and “moderate” health risks in Sparwood, Cranbrook, the eastern Fraser Valley, Kamloops, and Castlegar.
