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evacuation
Fire forces evacuation at Enderby high school
ENDERBY – High school students in Enderby were evacuated this afternoon due to a fire.…
UPDATE: Gas leak repaired after forcing evacuation in West Kelowna
UPDATE: 6:37 A.M., SEPT. 1, 2015 The leak has been repaired and evacuees were allowed back home by about 7:30 p.m., Aug. 31, 2015. 2:36 P.M., AUG. 31, 2015 WEST KELOWNA - A natural gas leak has forced people out of their homes in West Kelowna this afternoon. The gas leak has forced the evacuation...
Bolean Lake wildfire near Falkland continues to burn
FALKLAND - The Bolean Lake wildfire near Falkland continues to burn aggressively, although a change in weather is giving crews a better chance to hold it back. The wind died down enough on Tuesday, July 21, for air tankers to return to the skies above the 230-hectare fire, B.C. Wildfire information officer Kelsey Winter says....
UPDATE WITH VIDEO: Homes evacuated as ‘river of mud’ flows through Westsyde
KAMLOOPS - A storm moving over the city dropped a lot of rain in a short amount of time over Westsyde and now a 'river of mud' is reportedly forcing evacuations of Oak Hills Boulevard area. Emergency crews encountered heavy traffic as they tried to get to the area and reports on social media showed...
Hunt on for Orchard Park Mall suspicious package suspect
KELOWNA – RCMP need your help to find the man who allegedly left a suspicious package at Sears in the Orchard Park Mall forcing an evacuation and a call to the bomb squad. RCMP say the mall was cleared out at yesterday afternoon when a Sears' employee found a suspicious package and contacted mall security...
Windstorm wreaks havoc on Lumby trailer park
LUMBY - It was like a scene out of the Wizard of Oz: A carport swept into the air, bits of siding blowing off homes and dust clouding the air. There were numerous wind-related incidents Saturday afternoon in the North Okanagan — B.C. Hydro responded to some 300 wind-related outages across the province — but a trailer...
Windstorm forces Lumby residents from their homes
VERNON - Lumby residents were evacuated from their homes over the weekend due to a major windstorm. Around 7 p.m. Saturday, Mar. 14, RCMP officers were called to a home in the 400 block of Mabel Lake Road in Lumby for a hydro hazard caused by the wind. “The wind blew a portable carport up...
Authorities evacuate residents from hazardous Enderby boarding complex
ENDERBY - Eleven people, including as many as four children, have been displaced after authorities issued a do not occupy order on the building. Kevin Alstad, local assistant to the Fire Commissioner for the City of Enderby, described the building as “a hazard requiring the immediate removal of the occupants for their own safety.” In...
Man will face the judge for what RCMP say he did during Smith Creek fire
WEST KELOWNA - The man who RCMP believe took advantage of the West Kelowna fire evacuation notice last July to break into an empty home to steal has been charged. On July 2014, West Kelowna RCMP received a report of break and enter and theft from a home in the 2500 block of Cobblestone Road....
Lavington gas leak forces school closures
LAVINGTON - Some Lavington schools are closed Friday due to a major natural gas leak on Highway 6. Superintendent of School District 22 Joe Rogers says JW Inglis and Charles Bloom Secondary schools will be shut down while Fortis B.C. completes repairs to the gas line. Lavington Elementary School remains open. Teachers and CUPE staff...
Cargo contents would not have exploded from contact with flames: Safety Manager
KAMLOOPS – A trucking company safety manager says dangerous cargo on a trailer would not have exploded if it came into contact with its flaming tractor only feet away on Highway 1 Thursday afternoon. Caron Transportation's Safety and Compliance Manager Lily MacInnis says the container filled with 40,000 kg of Ammonium Nitrate parked 50 feet...
VIDEO: Smith Creek fire from above and by the numbers
KELOWNA - Take a guess: How much water have fire crews dropped on the Smith Creek fire over the past week and a half? Would you believe more than 1.2 million litres? As of Monday morning helicopters had flown more than 100 hours, skimmers had dropped more than 300 loads of water and foam and...
Crews reach 50% containment on Lytton fire
KAMLOOPS - Hydro has been restored, people are allowed to return home and crews are now able to work on hot spots in the interior of the 1,389 hectare Botanie Creek fire, which as of Thursday afternoon sits at 50 per cent contained. “The wet weather is a good thing all around,” Fire Information Officer...
Crews slowly containing Murray Lake fire
KAMLOOPS - A 340 hectare fire burning south of Merritt just off the Coquihalla Highway is now 40 per cent contained and crews continue to build on the guards already in place. Crews continue to make progress on the fire, which was just 30 per cent contained Monday, and today more than 100 crew members...
Power back on at Botanie Creek, fire now 25% contained
KAMLOOPS - Power is back on to the 45 properties affected by the Botanie Creek fire north of Lytton while more than 170 firefighters remain on the scene fighting the wildfire that is still 75 per cent uncontrolled today. B.C. Wildfire Fire Information Officer Melissa Klassen says the fire, which was discovered last Tuesday, remains...
Gaining ground on aggressive Lytton fire
KAMLOOPS - Crews were successful in gaining ground on the Botanie Creek fire Monday and now believe the nearly 1,400 hectare fire is 15 per cent contained. “The objectives for today are for ground crews and equipment to continue to reinforce fire guards,” Fire Information Officer Melissa Klassen says. Klassen says no further structures have been...
Crews continue to battle Murray Lake fire
KAMLOOPS - Crews continue to establish a guard around the perimeter of a 340 hectare fire just west of the Coquihalla Highway today, a week after the fire was first discovered. In total 70 crew members are on site south of Merritt, along with nine pieces of heavy equipment and five helicopters working to establish...
One house lost as crews work to contain Botanie Creek fire
KAMLOOPS - Firefighters were able to contain a small area of the wildfire north of Lytton this weekend, but not before a house was consumed by the uncontrolled blaze. “There are two properties affected,” B.C. Wildfire Fire Information Officer Melissa Klassen says. “Unfortunately one was a house. It’s devastating. The resident has been notified by...
UPDATE: Wildfire near Lytton continues to roar out of control
THOMPSON-NICOLA - The ‘highly aggressive’ Botanie Road wildfire continues to threaten people's homes. The local regional district declared a state of emergency on Thursday and issued an evacuation order because of the immediate threat of the fire. About 150 people are out of their homes. The Botanie Road fire is 1.5 square kilometres in size...
UPDATE: Apex wildfire now 60 per cent contained
PENTICTON - The wildfire on Apex mountain has burned 345 hectares and is now 60 per cent contained. The evacuation alert issued Wednesday remains in place for the lower portions of Green Mountain and Apex Mountain Roads, though it has been lowered to nine properties from 13. B.C. Wildifre has also reduced the amount of resources...
Evacuees watch crews attempt to save their homes
WEST KELOWNA - Margaret Maljevac is living out of Rubbermaid bins and watching water bombers swirl above her home, hoping it will still be there when the evacuation order is lifted. Maljevac is one of thousands of residents displaced by the Smith Creek wildfire in West Kelowna, now 400 hectares large and only 20 per...
Vet opens heart, clinic to evacuated pets
WEST KELOWNA - Evacuations can be a high stress situtation but one local vet is trying to make it easier on people and their pets by offering free kennelling for all pets displaced by the wildfire burning in West Kelowna right now. Dr. Moshe Oz , a vet with Rose Valley Veterinary Clinic, says they’ve...
Fires rage across province
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Firefighting resources are being juggled and reassigned as British Columbia's Wildfire Management Branch handles several blazes, including one that forced about 2,500 people from their homes. The Smith Creek fire near West Kelowna raged to an estimated 400 hectares by Friday morning, only a day after an evacuation order was issued for the...
UPDATE: Aggressive Murray Lake fire partially contained
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - An aggressive fire south of Merritt near Murray Lake is now 30 per cent contained, though an evacuation order for all properties adjacent to the lake remains. The Thompson Nicola Regional District issued the state of emergency and evacuation order around 9 p.m. Wednesday due to the potential threat. The evacuation order covers...