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Westside Road

Car snags power pole guy wires and flips near Vernon

VERNON – A car hit the guy wires on a Hydro pole on the north end of Westside Road near Vernon, flipping the vehicle and knocking out power in the area today. The crash happened just around 10:50 a.m., Oct. 25, on Westside Road about a kilometre south of Highway 97, on Okanagan Indian Band...

RV destroyed by fire in Bear Creek Provincial Park

WEST KELOWNA – Fire crews fought a dramatic blaze in Bear Creek Provincial Park last night as flames from a burning RV spread into the trees. West Kelowna Fire Rescue assistant fire chief Brent Watson says firefighters were called at about 9:45 p.m., Oct. 11, to a RV fire within the southern boundary of the...

Power back on for almost 3,000 in West Kelowna

WEST KELOWNA – An almost two hour power outage in West Kelowna this morning left thousands in the dark. The power went out at around 6:40 a.m. and came back on at about 8:18 a.m., Sept. 20, according to B.C. Hydro. The outage affected 2,827 customers in an area east of Highway 97, north of...

Fatal motorcycle crash on Westside Road

WEST KELOWNA – A 31-year-old West Kelowna man was killed in a motorcycle crash on Westside Road yesterday evening. RCMP say the motorcycle went off the road at about 5:44 p.m., Sept. 5, about 12 kilometres north of Highway 97 in West Kelowna, and south of Bear Creek Provincial Park. Const. Kent Hall says the...

HELSTON: What you can learn from a near tragedy on Okanagan Lake

Warnings to stay safe on the water have become to summer what drunk driving campaigns are to Christmas and telephone scam alerts are to grandparents. They’re good and important messages, but ones that tend to lose their kick over time like an old wind-up toy. Organizations work hard to find new ways of connecting these...

Big fires down but not out in Kamloops Fire Centre

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The only two wildfires of note in the Kamloops Fire Centre have been downgraded to patrol status. Shelter Cove fire off Westside Road near Kelowna and Bolean Lake fire near Falkland were downgraded August 5 and will now be monitored by crews of five firefighters. “Patrol status means they are done active fire...

Water back to normal following Westside Road fire

OKANAGAN - A water advisory for two community water systems on Westside Road has been lifted. Central Okanagan Regional District officials say the Killiney Beach and Westshore water systems are back to normal after consultations with the Interior Health Authority. The advisory covered more than 530 properties off Westside Road and was issued after power...

Behind the line at the Shelter Cove wildfire

KELOWNA – The Shelter Cove wildfire along Westside Road continues to grow, however Wildfire B.C. says homes and other structures are not threatened and they are confident they will have it under control soon. The fire, which was first reported Monday afternoon, is not yet contained and continues to burn roughly 430 hectares of dry,...

Crews battling wildfire in Bear Creek Park

WEST KELOWNA – Firefighters are responding to a grass fire in Bear Creek Provincial Park on Westside Road. The fire was first reported as small in size but has grown to 50-by-50 metres in size and is burning Rank 2 or 3 uphill, according to unconfirmed reports. The trail has the blaze guarded on three...

UPDATE: Crews hit brush fire in West Kelowna hard

WEST KELOWNA – Firefighters have knocked down a brush fire in West Kelowna off Westside Road this afternoon. Calls came into 911 at around 3:45 p.m. about several trees burning in a ravine at the edge of Bear Creek Road near Scott Crescent. West Kelowna fire chief Jason Brolund says his crews were taking no...

Westside Road shooter could get dangerous offender status

KELOWNA – The man who shot at police as he and two accomplices fled from police along Westside Road in 2012 will be evaluated by a psychiatrist to determine if he is a dangerous offender. In late February, Michael Ellis, 41, was found guilty of unlawful discharge of a prohibited weapon, armed robbery, attempted robbery,...

Westside car accident leaves three horses dead

VERNON - Three horses died in a collision with a truck on Westside Road over the weekend. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says a pick-up truck hit the horses around 12:10 a.m. on Dec. 13 on Westside Road near Pinecrest Road. The front end of the truck was badly damaged. Two horses died right away, and...

Two of three Westside Road shooters sentenced

KELOWNA - Two of the three people involved in the infamous Westside Road shooting that took police on a 60-kilometre chase from West Kelowna to Vernon in 2012 were sentenced in Kelowna Supreme Court Friday. Shawn Wysynski, 34, pleaded guilty and will serve nine years in federal prison for using a loaded gun to carjack...

Westside shooter threatened man and his young son

KELOWNA – The encounter lasted only a few minutes but left a strong impression on Mark Langmead and his 11-year-old son. “It was very disturbing,” he told Justic Ian Josephson in the B.C. Supreme Court trial of accused Westside shooter Michael Ellis Tuesday. “(My son) was very upset. He was extremely quiet and refused to...