Hundreds of families return home after crews bring West Kelowna, B.C., wildfire under control

Hundreds of families return home after crews bring West Kelowna, B.C., wildfire under control

Video shows flames, heavy smoke near lake amid West Kelowna wildfire

Bri Little submitted this video to CBC News that appears to show flames amid heavy smoke on the west side of Okanagan Lake, near Casa Loma, as a wildfire burned in West Kelowna, B.C., on Tuesday. She said she watched the fire spread across the hill around noontime over the span of an hour.

More than 800 people were ordered to leave their homes on Tuesday as a wildfire ignited and spread quickly in West Kelowna, B.C., coming within inches of some houses.

The fire started in Kalamoir Regional Park late Tuesday morning and quickly spread toward the Casa Loma and Lakeview Heights neighbourhoods, on a hillside above Okanagan Lake.

The flames were out of control for more than six hours, but as of 6 p.m. PT the fire was "being held," according to the B.C. Wildfire Service — which means the fire isn't expected to spread beyond the current footprint.

Residents were allowed to return home when evacuation orders were lifted shortly after, but remained under alert in case they need to leave again on short notice.

West Kelowna Fire Rescue said more than 100 firefighters worked to contain the flames against strong, gusting winds and dry conditions.

"The fire ... very rapidly threatened hundreds of homes in that neighbourhood," said Fire Chief Jason Brolund.

The fire, which officials say burned at least eight hectares of land, is listed as human-caused. The park is on the western shore of Okanagan Lake, around four kilometres southwest of the William R. Bennett Bridge that links West Kelowna and Kelowna.

Flames broke out just as the province held a news conference to warn British Columbians current drought conditions are worse than they were leading into the "historic" wildfire years of 2017, 2018 and 2021. Brolund said residents should prepare for a busy wildfire season and take Tuesday's fire as a timely reminder.

Central Okanagan Emergency Management says the evacuation order for the Casa Loma and Lakeview Heights neighbourhoods has been lifted and that people can return home.

However, a statement said hundreds of addresses are still under an evacuation alert, meaning residents should be ready to leave their home "at a moment's notice."

Residents can look up their address here to see if it's under an evacuation alert.

Fire was 'quite close,' says West Kelowna evacuee

Tracey Bennett and her husband had to quickly evacuate from their home in the Lakeview Heights neighbourhood of West Kelowna, B.C., on Tuesday after noticing dense smoke blowing toward them from a fast-spreading wildfire.

Tracey Bennett said she and her husband were working from home this morning when the fire broke out. She had gone out on her deck when she noticed dense smoke blowing toward their house in Lakeview Heights.

The heat and thick smoke made it "pretty evident early on that this was a close fire," she said.

"We couldn't see the flames from our house, but you could tell it was quite close because of the density of the smoke."

Bennett said they decided to get out of the area shortly after and wait for more information.

Despite the scare, Bennett said she feels reassured seeing the quick response from firefighters and other first responders.

The fire in West Kelowna is no longer out of control, the B.C. Wildfire Service says, and is now "being held" — which means crews don't expect it to spread further.

The wind has died down and the smoke has dissipated, but helicopters are still dropping buckets of water on homes and trees less than a block from here.

Some of the homes and trees in the neighbourhood are stained red with fire retardant that was dropped earlier today.

Residents are waiting anxiously at the evacuation line, wanting to get back home. Some people had to leave pets behind.

Police are asking boaters on Okanagan Lake to steer clear of Kalamoir Park to give waterbombers plenty of room to fill up.

“We were pleasantly surprised with the cooperation from local residents,” said Const. Ash Puri, media resource officer with West Kelowna RCMP. “The fire did come very close to certain properties bordering Kalamoir Park and those residents that were affected were more than happy to leave.”

Joe Gluska and his family were among the first to be evacuated because they live close to Kalamoir Regional Park.

"The smoke was very, very thick, as a result of the water being put on it, and the wind was quite strong," Gluska said.

"It was blowing right toward our house, so it made it very difficult to see."

He said people in his neighbourhood started to get nervous once police arrived and started blocking off roads but, fortunately, the evacuation went smoothly.

Now, Gluska says his family is just hoping they packed everything they'll need in the short term while they're out of their home — while also worrying about what they left behind "that can't be replaced" if their home is damaged by fire.

Brolund is urging homeowners with cedar hedges to choose the fire smart option and remove them.

"I've been saying this every chance I get, yet here I am standing at our incident command post in this neighbourhood surrounded by homes with cedar hedges," the fire chief said.

"This fire is early in the wildfire season. We are likely to potentially have a lengthy wildfire season again this year. This is a wake-up call and there is still time for people to take very simple actions around their homes to protect them."

West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund told CBC he has this message for people living in and near the Kalamoir Park evacuation areas:

"I know it's scary in almost every case, and I also know we're inconveniencing hundreds of thousands of people with the road closures and evacuations we have in place, but it's necessary.

"We are having success and we are saving homes by inches. So allow us the space to do our work. Be patient with us this aftenoon… We are making progress."

Elsewhere in B.C., an evacuation order and alert have been issued for an area south of Kamloops, where the Kullagh Creek wildfire is burning out of control.

The fire, just off Highway 5A on the western shore of Stump Lake, was discovered this morning, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service. It was initially listed at 30 hectares in size, but has since grown to an estimated 130 hectares (1.3 square kilometres). The cause of the fire is under investigation, the wildfire service says.

One property has been ordered to evacuate, and an evacuation alert has been issued for the surrounding area. Officials have also declared a local state of emergency.

CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe here, with a closer look at the weather conditions driving this fire.

As our reporters on the ground have mentioned, wind is the critical factor right now. Since about 8 a.m. PT, we've seen southwest winds gusting between 40 and 50 km/h. That is both feeding oxygen to the flames and pushing active embers directly northeast.

Fire weather forecasters consider conditions to be extreme when three specific thresholds are crossed: winds gusting over 30 km/h, temperatures above 30 C, and relative humidity dipping below 30 per cent.

We are hitting two out of those three benchmarks right now: it's dry and windy, and temperatures are sitting just a few degrees shy of that 30 C mark.

A small low-pressure system currently forming over the southeastern part of the province is controlling these winds. This system could bring a few much needed showers to the Okanagan tonight, but widespread soaking is not expected. Winds should ease overnight.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, winds will pick back up in the afternoon, but the big story will be a shift in direction. By Wednesday afternoon, those winds will be coming out of the northwest, changing the direction the fire is being pushed.