Two wildfires force evacuations near Oliver in BC’s Okanagan Valley

British Columbia Premier Christy Clark visited Rock Creek evacuees at a community centre Sunday and said it could cost upwards of $400 million to fight fires this season, a number far higher than the province’s budget of about $60 million per year. She told reporters that she heard reports “there were witnesses and that (what they saw) might have been caught on a government, road Transport Ministry camera”. “I get up in the morning thinking, ‘How am I going to make sure we put these fires out?”‘

About 1,200 customers were without power in Rock Creek, Westbridge, Beaverdell, Bridesville and Christian Valley, said Fortis B.C. spokeswoman Nicole Bogdanovic.

“We need to tighten up out containment lines, and that is through various methods”.

“Fire was within metres of their backyards”. On Sunday she stood next to a charred piece of property on the side of a highway and stared into the distance at the fire burning near her house.

The B.C. Wildfire Service describes this fire as “extremely dangerous”, noting that “anyone entering the evacuation area will be putting themselves and firefighters at risk”. “There was no time”. You just have to run. “Let’s just band together and get through this”.

The biggest challenge to fighting the fast-spreading flare-up has been the wind, said Kevin Skrepnek of the B.C. Wildfire Service.

“When you see (that) the growth on these fires largely happened in their initial stages, it speaks to the fact that this truly was a wind event that came through that area and really fanned these fires and caused them to grow so quickly”, he said. The B.C. Wildfire Service hasn’t forecast wind for Sunday, but he warned that situation could change quickly.

Officials say that “every effort is being made” to allow Kettle River Provincial Park evacuees to return to their vehicles and belongings.

Some 220 fires continue to burn across B.C. on Sunday, out of a total of more than 1,600 that have sparked since April 1.

About 40 kilometres away, near Rock Creek, 330 homes are under evacuation order, because of another fire that has burned almost 4,000 hectares.

Pepper says the district has also recommended evacuations in this incident.

“We were in bed when someone knocked on our door”, says the Willowbrook Road resident, who preferred not to be named. “We had a truck south of the highway where there are houses”.

“I understand people’s curiosity but you are impacting our fire operations”. Later, we sent some to protect businesses.

The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary has completed an assessment of damage in the area and has confirmed that 29 homes and additional structures have been lost.

These areas are affected by local and trans-boundary smoke from forest fires burning in the region and south of the border.

The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen says residents on the outskirts of Oliver who were ordered to leave on Friday because of the Wilson Mountain fire were allowed to go home Saturday.

Is there more to this story?

“We know today the weather is hot and dry and we will see a continued trend that direction, so, this is still a very large, active and risky wildfire”.