Elevate your local knowledge
Sign up for the iNFOnews newsletter today!
Vernon news
UPDATE: Severe thunderstorm watch issued for Southern Interior
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – We could see severe thunderstorms develop in the Thompson-Okanagan region this afternoon and evening. Environment Canada issued a severe thunderstorm watch this morning covering the South and North Thompson, Nicola, Shuswap and Okanagan regions and upgraded it to a warning for parts of the South Thompson, Nicola and Okanagan regions for a short...
Record heat in the Okanagan
OKANAGAN - Several Okanagan cities were among the 30 communities to set a new high temperature record in the province on Sunday. With a high of 39.3 C on Sunday, June 28, Vernon was one of the hottest Okanagan communities, surpassing a former high temperature record of 35.4 C. With a high of 38.7 C...
UPDATE: Semi fire on Coquihalla Highway
MERRITT – A semi burst into flames on the Coquihalla Highway this afternoon, severely restricting traffic for several hours. VSA Highway Maintenance says the route was fully reopened as of 4:30 p.m, June 28. The fire, about 1 kilometre north of the Great Bear snowshed, had forced the closure of one lane. No word on...
No hiking on Okanagan rail corridor just yet
LAKE COUNTRY - Officials with the District of Lake Country are trying to get out the message the CN Rail line through the community is off limits despite the referendum which approved the purchase of the land as part of the Okanagan Rail Trail. Crews have put up signs at access points along the rail...
Wildfire crews hopping with 16 new fires on weekend
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – Almost half of the 16 new wildfires sparked in the Thompson-Okanagan region over the weekend were preventable because people caused them. Kelsey Winter with B.C. Wildfire Management says seven of the fires crews have either put out, or are currently working to put out, have been listed as human caused. The rest of...
Scorching heat sizzles high temperature records
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – The heat wave blasting the Southern Interior cranked the temperature up a notch Saturday breaking high temperature records in the Thompson-Okanagan. Canada’s hot spot June 27 was Osoyoos where the mercury climbed to 40.9 Celsius, snapping the old high temperature record of 37.7 C recorded on the same day in 2000. Kamloops hit...
UPDATE: Skydiver injured at Vernon Airport
VERNON – A skydiver was taken to hospital after an accident at the Vernon Airport yesterday afternoon. The man lost control while skydiving and hit one of the chain link boundary fences around the airport at about 3 p.m., Friday, June 26, according to Vernon Fire Rescue. Bret Chalmers with Okanagan Skydive says there was...
Heat wave continues though not as hot has originally forecast
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – While it will still be hot this weekend, it won’t be has hot as first forecast by Environment Canada. The Special Weather Statement issued on Thursday, June 25, for the South and North Thompson, Nicola, Shuswap and Okanagan warning of temperatures as high at 40 Celsius has been ended. Meteorologists are still forecasting...
No fireworks in Vernon for Canada Day, but here’s what is happening
VERNON - With many people disappointed there won’t be any fireworks accompanying Canada Day in Vernon, a local organizer says there’s still lots to enjoy, and take pride in, this year. Residents learned in May there wouldn’t be a fireworks display on Canada Day — a shock to many who assumed the longstanding tradition would,...
Concern for homeless community heightens as temperatures rise
VERNON - While the hot weather forecast has many of us planning fun ways to beat the heat, members of the homeless population are thinking about something else entirely: survival. Imagine heading into 40 Celsius weather with no air conditioning, no hat or sunscreen, and no water. That’s the situation Vernon’s Cammy LaFleur Street Outreach...
UPDATE: Water quality advisory rescinded for Delcliffe area
VERNON - A water quality advisory issued for customers in the Delcliffe Road and Cameron Road area earlier this week has been rescinded. Greater Vernon Water along with Interior Health issued the advisory, June 24, for customers supplied by the Delcliffe Water Utility. Increasing water levels had increased turbidity resulting in cloudy water and a...
HELSTON: The Canadian Ski Patrol’s legacy is something that’s never leaving
It takes a certain kind of person to be a volunteer, and we’d be lost without them. From the search and rescuer who misses dinner with his family to help find a missing hiker, the listening ear on the other end of the crisis hotline, or the ski patroller who spends her weekend not knowing what kind of emergency she might be called to next — they are here for us, not for money, not for credit, but to help.
No elevated Okanagan watering restrictions — yet
OKANAGAN - Despite record-breaking heat and little rain in the forecast, Okanagan communities remain under normal, or phase 1, watering restrictions, but be warned — that could change. Water utilities are keeping a close eye on supply, demand and weather predictions for the summer, but haven’t yet been forced to elevate restrictions. Kelowna’s five water...
Being dismissed from Silver Star feels like ‘something precious to you being taken away’: Canadian Ski Patroller
CANADIAN SKI PATROL STILL LOOKING FOR ANSWERS VERNON - Sadness, anger and confusion are some of the emotions members of the Canadian Ski Patrol are feeling after finding out they aren’t being asked back to Silver Star Mountain next winter. Volunteers from the Canadian Ski Patrol can be found on many ski hills around the...
Woman who went missing in Okanagan bush has outstanding warrants
PEACHLAND - The Winnipeg woman who went missing for more than a week and then was found by two men checking on livestock on an old logging road near Peachland is due for a court appearance in Manitoba. Kara Jo Leigh Stoyanowksi, 24, went missing for nine days after she left a recreational area near...
Forecast heat wave prompts warning for people to be prepared
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – Hot desert air moving into the Southern Interior this weekend is behind a Special Weather Statement warning people to get ready. Record breaking high temperatures of 40 Celsius are forecast for Saturday, June 27, and Sunday, June 28, in the South Thompson, Nicola and South Okanagan. In the statement, issued today, June 25,...
Police-themed party gets surprise police visit
PRINCE GEORGE - Police-themed birthday parties are all the rage with young boys, often complete with badges and hats, but not all young boys get to have actual cops at their birthday party too. When Cpl. Dave Tyreman found out four-year-old Capper was hosting a police-themed birthday party on June 20 he decided to roll...
Magic of Enchanted Forest put new owner under its spell
REVELSTOKE - The Enchanted Forest had its new owners spellbound from the first time they saw the woodland wonderland many years ago. The roadside amusement park located between Sicamous and Revelstoke on the Trans Canada Highway has, for the fifth time in its 55 years, changed hands, but longtime visitors need not fear any drastic changes;...
Safety levels at Kamloops jail questioned by union chair after violent assault on corrections officer
KAMLOOPS – A union chair is calling on the province to offer staff more protective…
Upswing in payroll at Vernon city hall
VERNON - There’s been a hike in payroll at the City of Vernon. Staff salaries went up over half a million dollars last year, according to financial information released in a 2014 annual report. The city shelled out more than $21.7 million in pay and expenses for its employees in 2014, up nearly $520,000 over 2013. Among...
Careless use of flare guns believed to have sparked Kal Park blaze
VERNON - A fire in Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park Tuesday night is believed to have been caused by reckless behaviour. Coldstream fire chief Dave Sturgeon says crews responded to a small, one-metre by one-metre grass fire in the Rattlesnake Point area of Kal Park around 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 23. By the time firefighters arrived,...
Second assault at Kamloops jail this week
KAMLOOPS - Emergency personnel were on scene at the Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre for an inmate assault this morning, June 24. Dean Purdy, chair of the corrections and sheriffs services component of the B.C. Government and Service Employee’s Union, says an ambulance and fire truck arrived at the jail this morning. “The inmate-on-inmate violence occurs...
Concern arises over rash of suspicious Vernon grass fires
VERNON - A pattern of suspicious brush fires in Vernon has the fire department on edge as the region heads into scorching temperatures this week. Since June 11, crews responded to four grass fires in the city, two in Becker Park June 11 and June 12, one in Jubilee Park June 22, and the fourth on...
No fireworks and possibly no campfires allowed this weekend
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – Without a significant amount of rainfall Tuesday night, the Southern Interior could see a fire danger rating of ‘extreme’ by the start of the weekend. And that could mean no campfires on the weekend before Canada Day. Kelsey Winter of B.C. Wildfire says the fire danger rating in the Kamloops Fire Centre, which...