Wildfire northeast of West Kelowna prompts Evacuation Alerts
(Image Credit: BCWS)
9:25 p.m. Saturday
Due to the wildfire in the Blue Grouse Creek area, residents in the between Bear Creek Provincial Park north to Wilsons Landing are on EVACUATION ALERT.
Central Okanagan Emergency Operations told the public to refer to the interactive map on https://www.coemergency.ca/map where you can search by street address to determine if you are affected. The following streets are covered in this alert:
- Baird Road
- Bancroft Road
- Banff Road
- Bear Lake Road from Westside Road to Bald Range Creek37 Blue Grouse Road
- Blue Grouse Mountain Road
- Bolton Road
- Browse Road
- Edith Court
- Heldon Court
- Siemens Road
- Traders Cove Road
- From Bear Creek Provincial Park to 2171 Westside Road North
Residents in the area are advised to be ready to leave their home at a moment’s notice. They should be prepared to be away from their home for an extended period of time, make arrangements for pets and pack essential items such as medicines and important documents.
BC Wildfire Service said Saturday night the fire was exhibiting primarily Rank 1 fire behaviour meaning a smouldering ground fire with no open flame, white smoke and slow rate of spread. More information on fire behaviour and rank can be found here.
Elevated winds are continuing into the evening with crews experiencing gusts up to 55km/hr. With the fire burning in an old fire scar from 2023, the elevated winds are creating a significant safety hazard for crews with the potential for dead standing trees to fall over under these elevated conditions. Once the wind calms crews will be able to safely access more of the fire perimeter to continue suppression efforts.
7:40 p.m. Saturday
As expected, the fire near Bear Creek Provincial Park on the west side of Okanagan Lake has grown since first being reported earlier on Saturday afternoon.
The latest update from BC Wildfire Service estimated the blaze at 20 hectares. It is burning around 10 kilometres to the northeast of the City of West Kelowna .
Original story
A wildfire has started on the west side of Okanagan Lake near Bear Creek Park. It was measured at 1.5 hectares but was expected to grow, especially given the dry and very windy conditions.
BC Wildfire Service said Saturday afternoon that West Kelowna Fire and Rescue crews would be holding the fire at the road while BCWS crews will be establishing hoselay up the east flank of the fire to support water delivery to go direct attack.
A closer view of the location of the new wildfire around 10km northeast of West Kelowna
Helicopters will support ground crews with bucketing.
Conditions on site are windy and the elevated winds are expected to continue into the evening. Gusts up to 70km/hr are forecast for the Okanagan.