After more than a week of stress and anxiety, most residents of Summerland, B.C., can return to their homes.
“It’s the news we’ve all been waiting for for the last week,” Mayor Doug Holmes told CBC’s Daybreak South.
The community of more than 12,000 was forced to flee after the Bald Range wildfire broke out on Aug. 7 and grew explosively, claiming the life of an 80-year-old woman.
Holmes said an evacuation order was lifted for 3,380 properties at 7 a.m. PT Tuesday, what he called “the majority of Summerland.”
Some Summerland wildfire evacuees get green light to come home
Orders for a smaller number of properties were lifted over the weekend.
As of Tuesday, 530 properties remain under an evacuation order in the Garnet Valley, Prairie Valley and Meadow Valley.
All other Summerland residents remain under evacuation alert and must still be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
Holmes said those areas remain unsafe until geotechnical experts can test slope stability above the communities, and that Garnet Valley remains without power.
More stories from the B.C. Interior
“I know there was a lot of frustration, people waiting, I was feeling frustrated myself,” he said.
“But we had to do it properly, and orderly, and this is the big day.”
How art is helping Summerland evacuees process trauma
A boil water advisory remains in place due to the community’s water treatment plant going offline during the evacuation.
The community’s landfill is also still on fire, meaning trash will need to be trucked to a facility operated by the regional district.
On Monday, the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen said an initial assessment found the fire had damaged or destroyed about 150 structures.
About 40 of those structures were within the municipality’s boundaries.
Holmes said people who had lost property were contacted by social workers and counsellors, and given the chance to see their homes before the order was lifted.
“We just thought it was really important that people were able to go and see their properties, that had lost their homes, before we opened it up to all of their neighbours,” he said.
As of Tuesday, the 214-square-kilometre fire remained classified as out of control.
Firefighters have successfully held the fire behind control lines on the southern and eastern flanks, and have turned their attention to the fire’s west side where it continues to show aggressive behaviour.
