WEST KELOWNA – Despite open burning not being allowed in the Central Okanagan today, Jan. 28, the Regional District will be setting fire to debris collected around West Kelowna and Peachland.

The southern portion of Glen Canyon Regional Park in West Kelowna will be burning debris collected during a large fuel mitigation project that covered over 15 hectares between the trail entrances at Herbert and Brown Roads and Westbank Centre Park, south to the Gellatly Road parking area, according to a media release from the District.

Crews will also be burning wood debris in Trepanier Creek Greenway Regional Park just outside Peachland south of the Okanagan Connector. Several hundred piles were collected during the clean-up of the 2012 Trepanier wildfire.

“Today’s burning has been authorized with appropriate permits from West Kelowna Fire Rescue and other authorities for fire fuel hazard reduction and a custom venting forecast from the B.C. Wildfire Service which predicts good venting conditions at each regional park site, even though open burning is not allowed today in the Central Okanagan,” the release says.

More controlled burns will likely be required in the future on a 10-hectare section of Rose Valley Regional Park north of Pettman and Bowes Roads in West Kelowna.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infonews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.