iN VIDEO: Smoke from controlled burns in West Kelowna area will be highly visible

Most residents evacuated because of the McDougall Creek Wildfire in and around West Kelowna have returned home – those who have homes to return to.

“The south side of the fire has moved away from the homes up into steep inaccessible terrain,” Ben Sandy, deputy operations officer for BC Wildfire Service, said in a video posted yesterday, Aug. 27. “We have crews walking the line building hand guard and we’ve even utilized the rappel program to assist in the steep areas.”

The video goes on to say crews are working northwards along the east flank, mostly along Westside Road, making sure there are no spot fires burning along the road or in backyards.

“Moving forward in the coming days, planned ignitions are going to be a big part of what we’re doing so smoke will be visible but that will be to bring the fire down to containment lines to secure the fire,” Sandy said.

The text accompanying the video describes the importance of controlled burns.

“The purpose of these planned ignition operations is to remove unburnt fuel in an intentional way to secure control lines,” the text says. “Based on current conditions this unburnt fuel has the potential to burn on its own in a significantly more active way.

“It allows us to bring the fire perimeter down to control lines and creates a more uniform and continuous fire edge which is easier for crews to use direct attack methods on and extinguish hot spots."

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