Several cabinet ministers and some of B.C.’s top emergency officials provided an update on the wildfire situation in the province on Tuesday while continuing to reject calls for the latest tally of destroyed homes in Summerland. The entire community was forced to flee the swift-growing Bald Range wildfire on Friday night, and evacuees are anxious to know if their home is among those left standing after hearing stories of other community members who saw their own homes go up in flames. “We want to make sure that we’re contacting people responsibly, and part of that is waiting for a safe time for inspectors to get in to understand and assess the condition of people’s homes,” said emergencies minister Kelly Greene. Emergency Management B.C. executive director Kevin Dunbar suggested that they want to have the full picture before beginning notifications and that “when it is safe to do so, local governments will undertake rapid damage assessments.” Warnings continue A representative for the B.C. RCMP reiterated that anyone flouting evacuation orders and going behind the fire line to check on their homes could be arrested and removed from the area. Officials also asked tourists to stay away from the Summerland area and recreate elsewhere in the province as the area is busy with wildfire response and evacuees. They said that B.C.-wide, 20,000 people remain forced from their homes by wildfires in what’s become one of the largest evacuation operations in recent years. Teams from Albert and Nova Scotia are expected this week to bolster support services for evacuees, which have been ramped up considerably since the fire exploded in size over the weekend. Troubling forecast The smoke that’s smothered the south Okanagan from the Bald Range fire hadn’t hidden the impact already being felt by business owners and farmers: spoiled restaurant supplies, unpicked stone fruit rotting on trees, livestock losses and considerable damage to infrastructure at ranches, farms, and vineyards. Beleaguered BC Wildfire crews are being relieved by international peers converging on several wildfires in the Kamloops Fire Centre, and there are already signs they could face an uphill battle with the changing weather conditions. Blue skies and lower temperatures are forecast, with a chance of light rain. “If the smoke clears, it is a challenge for us as we see clean oxygen on those fires and the potential for those fires to spread,” explained Cliff Chapman, operations director for the BC Wildfire Service. “We’re going to see potentially new lightning strikes; we’re going to see winds that are going to be elevated and unpredictable in terms of direction, and so we are going to continue to be challenged even if we see precipitation enter this province.”
