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Fire

Fire rips through downtown Penticton businesses

PENTICTON - Penticton firefighters are on scene of a fire at two downtown businesses this morning. The Penticton Fire Department was called to the 200 block of Main Street around 5:40 a.m., Sept. 30, on a first alarm and immediately noticed smoke visible from coming from Fibonacci Roastery and Cafe and the neighbouring Hooked on...

Suspicious house fire in West Kelowna

WEST KELOWNA – No one was hurt in an early morning house fire in West Kelowna that investigators are calling suspicious. The fire happened Tuesday, Sept. 22, just before 5:30 a.m. on Alexander Court. No one was home at the time and the cause of the fire is not yet known. Firefighters were able to...

Kamloops couple still searching for furry family member that escaped house fire

KAMLOOPS - A dog that escaped the flames that tore through a family home in Barnhartvale nearly a month ago is still missing.  Janelle Andrews and her boyfriend Cory Lien lost everything they owned after their home caught fire Aug. 21. Both of their dogs made it out safely before the walls came down, but one...

Arrest made in Vernon pet store arson

VERNON - Police have charged a local man with arson in connection to a small fire outside AJ’s Pets & Things earlier this month. RCMP Const. Jocelyn Noseworthy says surveillance footage released by the store showed a man appearing to start the Sept. 6 fire. Police appealed to the public for help locating and identifying...

Police investigating another suspicious fire in Vernon

VERNON - Police in Vernon are investigating another suspected arson, this time outside the curling club. RCMP Const. Jocelyn Noseworthy says the fire started in a pile of display panels used for hanging merchandise which were stacked at the rear of the building. The Vernon Fire Department managed to put out the blaze before it...

Multiple residents displaced after Vernon pot lab explodes

VERNON - Several residents of a Vernon apartment complex were forced out of their homes when a neighbouring unit exploded and now, nearly a month later, they still can’t return home, according to one displaced tenant. Resident James Halpert, who gave only his first and middle name, has lived in his Regency Gardens apartment on...

Two suspicious fires under investigation in Vernon

VERNON - Police are taking two separate suspicious fires in Vernon very seriously. At this point, investigators can’t say if the pair of fires are connected, but RCMP Const. Jocelyn Noseworthy says these types of cases ‘take a very high priority’ at the detachment, particularly in light of a string of high profile unsolved arsons...

Dog still missing after fire destroys Barnhartvale house

KAMLOOPS - A Barnhartvale couple who lost their dog Aurora and all their possessions in a fire last month continue to search the streets of Kamloops for their only memory of home, their other dog Jasmine. Janelle Andrews and her partner Cory Lien came home to see friends try to douse the flames at their...

Dropping wildfire threat reopens part of Knox Mountain Drive

KELOWNA – Although the majority of Knox Mountain Drive will remain closed due to the risk of wildfire, the road will be reopened to vehicles as far as the first lookout tomorrow. The Friday, Sept. 4 opening comes after the road was closed in July due to the high risk of fire. Urban Forest Technician...

Communities on edge: Thompson-Okanagan fire officials field calls for false alarms

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Fire appears to be at the forefront of many peoples’ minds across the Thompson-Okanagan. With wildfires burning across the province and a blanket of smoke from Washington hanging in the air, fire officials say they are receiving a number of reports which are in fact nothing more than false alarms. In the North...

Overnight brush fire on highway north of Vernon ‘could’ve been a different story’

SPALLUMCHEEN - Emergency crews took no chances with a brush fire burning on a slope off Highway 97 Wednesday night. Armstrong-Spallumcheen fire chief Ian Cummings says the half-acre blaze was reported just after 9 p.m., Aug. 26, just north of Greenhow Road on Highway 97. “It was quite visible, there was pretty high flames. We...

Senior woman dies in fire at Kamloops retirement home

KAMLOOPS — A Kamloops woman has died from her injuries after her room caught fire in a downtown senior’s complex yesterday, Aug. 24. Platoon Capt. Troy Grant says Kamloops Fire Rescue and paramedics responded to the call at Glenfair Complex on Glenfair Drive around 10:20 p.m. and determined the woman fell asleep in her chair...

B.C. crews begin work on Washington wildfire

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - B.C. Wildfire firefighters have begun work on a Washington-based wildfire inching its way toward the Canadian border. With five kilometres left before reaching Canada, B.C. crews have been deployed to suppress the Stickpin Fire which is now estimated to be 19,240 hectares in size. Plans so far are for crews to assess the...

Small North Okanagan town bands together for Rock Creek fire victims

GRINDROD - A small community in the North Okanagan area is rallying together for victims of the Rock Creek wildfire. The Riverfront Pub & Grill is organizing a Ride for Rock Creek to assist people affected by an aggressive wildfire east of Osoyoos in the Rock Creek area. The human-caused fire destroyed 30 homes and...

Illegal burn doused by Vernon firefighters

VERNON - Vernon firefighters are reminding the public there is still a fire ban, something a local man apparently didn’t know. About 10 a.m., Thursday, Aug. 20, the Vernon Fire Department was called out to the 7300-block of Old Stamp Mill Road for a burning complaint. “It was a homeowner there claiming he didn’t know...

RCMP investigating suspicious fire at pizza shop

KAMLOOPS — A RCMP investigation is underway into a fire at a pizza shop which started after an accelerant was thrown through a broken window early this morning Firefighters extinguished the fire in the 400-block of Victoria Street around 5 a.m., Aug. 20. RCMP say investigators are still trying identify a suspect. If anyone saw...

No smoke alarms in fire that destroyed trailer on Ord Road

KAMLOOPS — A fire could have gone much worse at the Apple Valley Trailer Park according to a Kamloops Fire Rescue Inspector. Ray Webster says there were no smoke alarms detected in a trailer which went up in flames around 10 a.m. today, Aug. 19. “This could have been far worse,” he says. A neighbour...

Police investigating apartment fire that left two Vernon men with severe burns

VERNON - A pair of Vernon men were airlifted to Vancouver last week after suffering serious burns in an apartment fire. The two men, ages 20 and 21, were inside an apartment building in the 3400 block of Okanagan Avenue when a fire started in the bathroom. Deputy Vernon Fire Chief Jack Blair says they...

Vernon grass fire gets quick response from fire department

VERNON - Emergency crews rushed to the scene of a grass fire burning close to homes in Vernon Friday morning. The fire burned in a field on Melfort Road in Vernon’s BX area, prompting a full response from the BX-Swan Lake Fire Department today, Aug. 14. Local resident Cathy Huber says the fire was burning...

Fire destroys shed, vehicles on Vernon property

VERNON - A pillar of black smoke rising from a Vernon property Sunday afternoon was the work of a vigorous shed fire.  The blaze broke out just before 2 p.m., Aug. 9 in the 4200-block of 27 Avenue, and appears to have started in or around a plastic garden shed, deputy Vernon fire chief Jack...