Kelowna Forest Fire
 

Dont know if any of you have heard but we have a pretty bad fire here in Kelowna. Check here for more info: http://www.silk.fm/silk/firewatch/

Everywhere I used to hike and camp when I was growing up is gone. Okanagan Mountain park was a fav place to get away in.

Have you heard if Chute Lake resort has burned? :( Last I heard fire was within 50m of the lodge with only three firefighters there to try and stop it. That was two days ago.

http://www.canada.com/national/featu...D-8EEBD908A117

that answers that question...


:(

Yeah its not a very friendly fire, over 15 houses are gone and Im sure chute lake resort will be toast, a few of my clients are evacuated right now as the fire closes in on thier homes. most of the houses in the area of the fire are very big expensive houses. I must live at least 15-20kms away from the fire and have large pieces of ash dropping in the yard constantly.

Very frightening, I have a friend that may end up in the path. My heart goes out to the people that have homes in the vacinity.

deepblue,

It's been a terrible summer for people all over the world :frown: An estimated 10,000 people have died in France, mostly elderly found dead in their own homes, due to 40C weather over the past few weeks. Parts of Europe are on fire just like BC is. I don't even know how a person could save an aquarium in such a desparate fire situation :eek: Hope all will be okay for you and your loved ones.

Just read a report in the Province, they've evacuated Lakeside Drive so two friends are out on the street (relatively speaking). As usual, when a disaster like this happens, hundreds of volunteers are helping those without a place to stay. Of the thousands evacuated, apparently very few have needed emergency housing or hotels.

On the bright side, there's also an article reporting that the fire will have beneficial effects on the large wildlife in the area.

Holy crap!!!!!!!!!!! Just went for a drive and half the town is on evacuation notice and 30,000 on evatuation orders, the whole town is emptying! I hear hundreds of homes have burned I think my uncles included. There are alot of people needing places to stay now and there are thousands o horses and other animals needing help too. We just had some rain but niow everthing is bursting back into flames! you can see many many homes on fire from almost anywhere in the city. For those of you who know kelowna it is being evacuated on the north east side from mission to most of rutland and up to big white mtn

We have friends that live in the mission, hope they're OK. Things sound really bad there!!

Thanks for the update.
We have friends and family in Kelowna.

as of last night (11 hours after your post) the confirmed 30000 people were evacuated with another 10000 on 1 hours notice. also the amount of homes lost is in the hundreds.

We got word yesterday at work that we have been put on "Standby" to go help out (they are trying to figure out how many and who they can spare
)

Steve

There were a bit over 200 homes lost last night and tonight is not supposed to be very good. there are 17,000 more people that are on evacuation alert

Thanks for the updates. I finally got a hold of one friend and he's not in any danger of losing a home but it's still good to hear from him.

Did the fire come down into the Lakeshore Drive area? That's where my other buddy lives and I haven't been able to get in touch with him (obviously).

Check out the first website mentioned:
We have a handful of friends and relatives in Kelowna, some of which are evacuated now (Mission). Not sure how they're doing.

The Evacuation Map is pretty alarming.

I believe any homes in the mission from KLO road and down further are evacuated. and most of black mountain in rutland is evacuated too. from downtown kelowna you can see flames hundreds of feet high from the evening on. if you go to the site I posted at the top of this post you can get numbers for evacuee registration to see if your friends are evacuated.
to add to the news release, there will be over 1000 military personal here this weekend sometime. I wonder what tonight will bring with more winds comming.... it looks pretty to watch but the destruction is horrible!!!

wow.

my mother lost power yeserday due to a new fire south of Penticton(Vasseux lake).

It's already 1,000 hectares like it was stated in that press release.

scary

here is a good website focusing on the Kelowna fire.

http://castanet.firewatch.net/

Steve

that link that you posted Steve is the same link that I posted at the top of this thread. Well it takes you to the same joint website anyways... Another fire started at a riverside forestry yard and is being put out with dynamight right now. Winds are picking up and this will probably be another bad night for the fire. As soon as it gets dark the whole sky around Kelowna is lit up. If you go to the link I posted or the link Steve posted you can see some pretty amazing pictures, also try this link: http://welcometokelowna.com/Okanagan...ark_fire.shtml

There is also very good radio coverage at this link: http://www.thesun.net/kelowna/

How bad is the fire at Riverside? Has there been any damage to the mill itself?

the fire wasnt at riverside but at a riverside yard across the lake close to bear creek park and then another fire 5 kilometers away close to traders cove.

Thanks.