Wildfires near Penticton, B.C., force people to evacuate homes

Two separate fires in the Penticton area, located in B.C.'s southern Interior, forced people from their homes Tuesday afternoon. 

It came as several communities elsewhere in the province lifted evacuation orders for a total of almost 200 properties, though the B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS) has warned that wildfire risks remain.

The Penticton Indian Band declared a local state of emergency Tuesday evening due to the 0.2-square-kilometre Lower Blue Mountain wildfire burning on the band's land.

Chief Greg Gabriel told CBC News he believes the blaze "originated from a trailer that was set up on someone's property." The BCWS said its cause is still being investigated.

The band issued an evacuation order for around 10 properties in the Westhills Crescent neighbourhood, while many more nearby properties are on alert. Gabriel estimated the order affects approximately 100 people, while more than 300 people are under an evacuation alert. 

Green Mountain Road has also been closed between Westhills Drive and Shingle Creek Road until further notice.  

Photos posted to social media show a thick grey plume of smoke rising into the sky.

At the same time, officials said a fire in the West Bench area of Penticton is threatening 12 homes. Residents were asked to go to an evacuation reception centre Tuesday afternoon. 

The BCWS said the fire was human caused. It's now considered to be held, which means it's projected to remain in control lines.  

Evacuation orders downgraded, rescinded

Elsewhere in the province, many residents were able to return home Tuesday.

The Regional District of Central Kootenay downgraded an evacuation order to an alert for 116 properties in Electoral Area D in response to the 184-square-kilometre Argenta Creek fire Tuesday morning. But the community of Argenta — a small community north of Kaslo — as well as properties east of the Duncan forest service road and east of the Argenta-Johnsons Landing Road are still evacuated.

Meanwhile, in East Kootenay, the regional district there rescinded an evacuation order for six properties in the Whiteswan Lake area in response to the 115-square-kilometre Mount Morro wildfire.

Around the same time, the Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) downgraded an evacuation order for 57 properties in Venables Valley, an agricultural region about 70 kilometres west of Kamloops. Later in the day, the district did the same for about 14 properties in nearby communities, including the Upper Hat Creek valley. 

They are now part of around 286 properties on alert in the area due to the 272-square-kilometre Shetland Creek fire, which has been raging for weeks. Meanwhile, around 17 properties are still evacuated.  

The BCWS says a thunderstorm passed over the region Monday afternoon and brought between one and 10 millimetres of rain across the wildfire, which helped reduce its behaviour. But the blaze is not expected to stay subdued for long. 

"This fire is waking back up right now, it's going to get active in the coming days," Dimitry Vasius, deputy incident commander on the Shetland Creek fire, said in a video the BCWS posted Tuesday.  

The Argenta Creek fire and the Shetland Creek blaze are two of several wildfires of note in B.C. This means they are highly visible or pose a potential threat to public safety.

They are also part of more than 340 fires actively burning in the province, according to the BCWS. Close to 40 per cent of them are out of control. 

Evacuation alerts lifted, wildfire risks remain

Also on Tuesday, some B.C. communities lifted their wildfire evacuation alerts. 

The biggest change happened in Golden, which rescinded the evacuation alert for 720 properties south of the town — particularly from south of Champagne Road to Hawkins Road. The alert remains for 332 properties from Hawkins Road and around two kilometres south of Parson. 

The TNRD has also rescinded an evacuation alert for 36 properties near Dunn Lake, which was issued in response to the 23-square-kilometre Dunn Creek blaze. 

But the service said despite the forecast showing a return to cooler, more seasonable temperatures over the next week, it is not enough to "knock down" the hazards or susceptibility for new fire starts.

Cliff Chapman with the BCWS said Tuesday that the province has seen about 10,000 lightning strikes over the last seven days, primarily in the Kamloops Fire Centre and Southeast Fire Centres. Those lightning strikes have the ability and the fuel to start new fires, especially because B.C. had a hot and dry July.  

B.C. may also see more wind and the potential for more lightning over the next 36 to 48 hours, according to Chapman. 

Currently, he said the province is seeing about 12 to 24 new starts each day. That trend is expected to continue for the next few days, particularly in the southeast and Kamloops fire centres.

"Relative to 2023, which many call the worst fire season B.C. has ever experienced, we're still quite a few fires below where we were last year ... and we're just slightly above the 10-year average for total number of fires in B.C.," Chapman said.