The critical period for the fires that are raging out of control in B.C.'s interior has come to an end, but it's too early to say that more people will not be ordered out of their homes Sunday.
Weather and fire officials said earlier that the greatest risk on Saturday would come between 2 and 8 p.m. local time. That time slot has come and gone, with more than 15,000 people or 25 per cent of Kelowna's population, still on alert to be ready to flee at any time.
Although the winds were still present, Karen Cairns, an information officer, said the sky was blue as the sun began setting and the choking smoke was clearing. "We're just hoping all will be well tonight," she said.
Later Saturday evening thousands of residents who had been forced out of their homes on Friday were allowed to return, to an area where no houses had been lost. The area, which includes people from the north side of Highway 33 East, including the upper Rutland bench area, Ellison and Postill Lake area, was placed back on evacuation alert.
Kelowna Fire Chief Gerry Zimmerman briefs the media on the destruction of the Okanagan Mountian Park forest fire in Kelwona, B.C. Saturday (Richard Lam/CP)
Related Articles
About 203 homes were lost over night on Friday, but hundreds more were saved.
Fire crews in Kelowna, B.C., assessed the damage Saturday, walking through charred neighbourhoods, when safe, and using aerial photography.
"Last night was probably the roughest night in Kelowna's firefighting history," Gerry Zimmerman, the city's fire chief, said at a press conference late Saturday morning. "We got hammered pretty good."
"The strategy now is to keep the fire out of the city and that's all they can do," Carol Suhan, of the emergency operations centre in Kelowna, told globeandmail.com on Saturday.
In the Kamloops fire centre area, officials say they were fighting eight major interface fires -- conflagrations that threaten communities. In a typical season, it would be unusual to encounter even one. In a statement late Saturday, officials said a fire like this comes along only once in a century.
Province-wide, about 840 fires were burning Saturday night, Robbin Conlinn, an information official in southeast B.C., said. Just under 300 of those were in the southeast, which does not have the dry arid conditions that exist closer to Kelowna.
Ms. Robbin said distributing fire-fighting resources was "a bit of a juggling act." As crews from the U.S. and various provinces flew in to lend a hand, some of the firefighters from the southeast were being sent to assist in Kelowna.
Friday night, about 20,000 more people were ordered to flee, placing a total number of about 26,000 residents — or one-third of the community — under evacuation orders, living with friends, family or in shelters being set up.
At a press conference Chief Zimmerman said 203 homes were lost, but stressed that the number is only preliminary and might not be accurate. Some houses were demolished so thoroughly it was hard to tell how many had once existed.
He asked people to take note of the firefighters, many from outside his community who came to help. At times early Saturday morning, they were forced to drop everything and flee when the fire got too hot. Three of them lost their homes.
Some 100 military and 50 fire crews — with about four people each — have been battling the blazes. About 1,000 soldiers are also going to help. "They were being overwhelmed," Ms. Suhan said. "They saw 130 metre flames bursting in front of them."
Some have had smoke inhalation injuries and one had an eye injury, but all have been operating on full tilt, taking in two or three hours of sleep at a time.
"Firefighters are heroes," she said. "I will remember that for the rest of my life."
Danger was always present this weekend, with crews "literally" having to speed to their equipment and flee. Two teams were surrounded by fire Friday night and had to fight their way out.
The homes destroyed were in the southeast part of Kelowna, Ms. Suhan said earlier, adding that the damage was not confined to just one neighbourhood.
Ms. Suhan noted that Friday night, rumours in the community had run wild, with some saying that 2,000 to 3,000 homes may have been destroyed.
In some neighbourhoods, the fire seemed to reach out like "fingers," fire crews said, touching and torching some houses while leaving others in the subdivisions unscathed.
'Danger still there'
"We had three of our guys lose their houses," Chief Zimmerman said. "When we start losing houses it's having a bad affect on the guys..."
Among those razed were larger lots and those with trees reaching within 20 metres of buildings.
For Saturday night, Brian Kempf, an incident commander, told the press conference that crews are trying to secure the south control lines.
"Conditions are the same as yesterday. The weather is going to be windy and hot," he said. "The danger is still there, we haven't secured those lines"
The order Friday included homes in an area known as South Mission, and residents were being sent to two evacuation centres in downtown Kelowna. Ms. Suhan said people in the centres appeared "stunned."
"Our first concern is safety, human life," she said. "As far as fire has been erratic and the officials felt they would cautious as they could be.
"When you evacuate one-third of your population in two hours, it went exceptionally smooth," she said.
Saturday morning, officials wanted people who have been asked to leave their homes to register at one of two centres. An information line has been set up at 250-869-0386. People wishing to check on their family members in Kelowna can call 1-888-350-6070 to see whether they have been registered.
"It's really quite amazing," Ms. Cairns said Saturday night, describing how the emergency centres set up in a church and an arena were quieter than officials had anticipated. She speculated that most people were staying with family or friends. She said one local furniture store had offered to let people sleep on the beds in their showroom.
Thousands on alert
Officials confirmed Saturday night that 15,000 residents, or 6,000 households, had been placed on alert. That does not include the thousands of people allowed to return to their homes, who have also been placed on alert.
Early Saturday morning, a globeandmail.com reader said in an e-mail that "It looks like most of the wineries and orchards are toast already." He said many vehicles on the streets were towered with people's belongings.
Local roads were clogged with cars late Friday night as residents left the south end of town leaving burning houses behind them.
At 8:30 on Friday, the sky turned black with smoke while the hills to the south were aglow with orange flame.
Ms. Cairns said that local phone lines were jammed, and 911 was receiving more calls than it could handle. Local residents were asked to call 250-860-0054 rather than 911 in case of emergency.
Ms. Cairns was not sure why the emergency line was flooded with calls, but speculated it might be people with respiratory problems having trouble with the smoke, or people seeing fires approaching their properties.
Telus issued a statement Saturday morning to say that its phone networks were not damaged in the area and that 911 was still working. However, citing congestion, the company requested that all of its customers limit their calls to emergency purposes only. It urged customers not to phone their answering machines to check whether their homes were safe, because it may not work as a result of power outages.
With reports from Mark Hume and Jane Armstrong
Some of the major fires burning in B.C. on Saturday:
Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park: Southwest of Kelowna. Estimated at 190 square kilometres. About 250 firefighters, 109 pieces of heavy equipment, and 13 helicopters building guards to try to contain it. Estimated 203 homes destroyed by fire Friday evening and overnight.
Vaseux Lake: South of Penticton. Estimated at about 10 square kilometres. About 58 firefighters, with more sent Saturday morning, 19 pieces of heavy equipment and three helicopters building guards to contain it. Not burning near any structures on Saturday.
McLure-Barriere: North of Kamloops. Estimated at 256 square kilometres, 60 per cent contained. About 1,105 personnel, 156 pieces of heavy equipment, and 12 helicopters fighting it.
McGillvray-Niskonlith Lake: West of Chase. Estimated at 76 square kilometres, about 30 per cent contained. About 285 firefighters, 141 pieces of heavy equipment and 10 helicopters fighting it.
Venables Valley: West of Kamloops. Estimated at 67 square kilometres, 20 per cent contained. About 200 personnel, 46 pieces of heavy equipment, and five helicopters.
Ingersol: Kootenay region near Nelson. Estimated at 27 square kilometres, 40 per cent contained. About 104 firefighters, 11 pieces of heavy equipment and four helicopters.
Togo: In Washington State, about 700 metres from the B.C. border, south of Grand Forks. Estimated to be 21 square kilometres in size. About 904 U.S. firefighters and about 30 Canadian firefighters battling it.
Hells Gate: Near Boston Bar in the Fraser Canyon. Estimated at about 80 hectares. About 35 firefighters and five helicopters fighting it.
