Thousands of residents around West Kelowna, B.C., on evacuation alert as fire flares

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – Thousands of British Columbia residents around West Kelowna have been warned to be ready to leave on short notice because of a nearby spot fire that charred more than half a square kilometre in just a few hours.

The Regional District of Central Okanagan posted the evacuation alert for as many as 4,800 properties just before 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, about four hours after the McDougall Creek blaze was spotted 10 kilometres northwest of West Kelowna.

The blaze is now listed as one of 14 fires of note in B.C., meaning it is highly visible or threatening public safety.

It comes as the B.C. Wildfire Service warns of “actively evolving” wildfire conditions through the day, due to an incoming storm sweeping across B.C. from the northwest to the southeast, packing powerful winds and the potential for lightning.

The wildfire service says crews have been making “good progress” battling a complex of fires just north of Panorama Mountain Resort and 10 kilometres west of Invermere, but the Regional District of East Kootenay has updated an evacuation alert for more than 900 dwellings on a flank of the blaze southwest of Lillian Lake as strong winds are forecast.

In the southern Interior Shuswap region, the community of Scotch Creek and some properties in Celista are now on alert as winds have the potential to push the Lower East Adams Lake wildfire south and east.

The wildfire service was reporting 372 active fires early Thursday as hot, dry weather contributes to “extreme fire behaviour,” especially in the southern Interior where a ridge of high pressure brought record-breaking temperatures earlier in the week.

Only a handful of daily temperature records were set Wednesday, including in Lillooet, which was the hottest place in Canada, at 39.3 C, breaking the old record set in 2008.

Heat warnings have been dropped for Metro Vancouver but remain posted for areas including a section of eastern Vancouver Island, the Fraser Canyon, Thompson and 100 Mile regions, as well as much of the Kootenay, Okanagan and Boundary.

Neal McLoughlin, with the predictive services unit of the wildfire service, said the high-pressure ridge and unseasonable heat was expected to break down in the Interior to be replaced by the cold front and lightning which the weather office said could continue through Friday.

McLoughlin said the lightning could start more fires that would spread quickly with shifting winds and said the service was “very concerned.”

A half dozen new fires in Strathcona Provincial Park on Vancouver Island were caused by lightning strikes, he said, noting they are being monitored for now.

Elsewhere, the wildfire west of Keremeos that forced 80 people to briefly shelter in place after it flared up Tuesday night, cutting off access to Cathedral Provincial Park and a privately run lodge, remained at 100-square kilometres in size.

The 80 people sheltering at the lodge were led to safety by midday, Wednesday while evacuation alerts and orders issued by the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen are still in place.

Feature image by iStock.com/jjpoole