No significant fire growth in the Shuswap, but tension between officials and residents is rising

Helicopters were back in the air dropping buckets in the North Shuswap Tuesday after they were grounded for several days due to low visibility brought on by heavy smoke.

It’s been almost a week since the Bush Creak East fire, part of the massive Adams Complex, became one of the fastest-moving fires in B.C. history, running 20 kilometres in under 12 hours.

The blaze left devastation in the region, burning homes, businesses, and a fire hall to the ground, and also rendering firefighting camp unusable.

The number of properties lost in the region is still unknown, but heavy urban search and rescue team Canada Task Force 1 arrived in the area Tuesday afternoon and began damage assessment.

“This is one of if not the most significant fire events we have ever witnessed," BC Wildfire Service information officer Forrest Tower said in an information briefing Tuesday.

“We had a fire that went from a 7,000 hectare fire…and is now a 41,000 hectare fire, all out of control wildfire growth. That is that is a force of nature similar to a tornado, similar to an earthquake or a tsunami.”

But BCWS says there has been no significant growth on the fire for the past two days, and based on the current weather forecast, fire behaviour is expected to decrease after Tuesday.

Crews have been working on building guards on the fire’s edges, which Tower describes as an “X” shape with many arms jutting out for kilometres, making it a very complex blaze to fight.

Overnight lightning sparked a new fire in the Anglemont area, but attack crews were on it quickly and Tower says he expects the flames will be controlled.

‘THEY ABANDONED US’

But another battle is raging alongside the wildfire fight—one between officials, and residents who feel they’ve been abandoned.

“We’ve been hearing lots about Kelowna having all the support and we have people here losing homes, animals, displaced,” said local resident Mary Armstrong.

Tower was adamant that ample resources are working on the Adams Complex, saying that there are at least 120 wildland firefighters currently working in the North Shuswap with more on the way. That’s in addition to 105 structural firefighters, 50 pieces of structural equipment, 50 support staff, and personnel from 15 municipal fire departments from across B.C.

“They're doing patrols of neighborhoods, roadways in that area. It is a 24/7 operation right now,” he said. “They’re working tirelessly.”

He added he’d be happy to have a phone call with anyone wanting in-depth information about the planned ignition done last Thursday, and reiterated that the tactic saved homes and did not cause the blaze’s devastating spread.

“There's a lot of misinformation,” he said. “Please call me and I will walk you through. I have timelines that go down to the minute of the decisions we made.”

What added insult to injury for some was that Preimer David Eby’s planned visit to the Salmon Arm Emergency Operations Centre was cancelled, citing flying conditions.

“Very disappointed. The skies are very clear, Kelowna airport is open so not sure why he wouldn’t show up,” said Brenda Sabrozy.

'US VERSUS THEM MENTALITY'

Speaking at a news conference in Kelowna, Eby had the following to say of the Shuswap situation:

"I can't imagine what it must feel like to feel like your home is threatened by fire or to see homes burning in your community and be asked to leave and not stay behind and protect things that are precious to you and your family.

The conflict for these families has to be profound. What do you do in that situation? What we're asking is, please – it's not a light request from the fire service.When they tell you to leave, it's to save your life and it's to save the lives of first responders, so they don't have to go back in and rescue people from the jaws of a fire."

A map of the evacuation orders and alerts in the North Shuswap (Thompson Nicola Regional District)Eby’s comments were echoed at the briefing from the Columbia Shuswap Regional District, where residents were again urged to obey evacuation orders and stop tampering with firefighting equipment and officials tried to assure locals that they are working to save their homes.

"They do have a plan. Even if there isn't stuff set up and you can see fire and it's coming. They have a plan to move equipment where it's needed,” Tower said.

“When our stuff is tampered with it really makes it difficult for that operation to happen successfully.”

Some residents are not convinced.

“Don’t rely on the fire department, they abandoned us,” said Scotch Creek resident Mark.

Tensions are also rising between locals--who are running a grassroots effort to run supplies from south of Shuswap Lake to residents who chose to stay behind in the north to protect their properties—and the ramped-up police presence stopping them.

Discussions about ferrying supplies back and forth are distracting from the actual situation, Erick Thompson, CSRD public information officer said. “You can’t debate whether the local government has stopped people from getting things. They shouldn't be there. It's unsafe for them.”

Derek Sutherland, director of CSRD Emergency Operations Centre said that people’s presence in the area is creating an unsafe environment for first-responders, and so they’ve had to “beef up” security in the area to address the issue.

“There are enough resources on this fire to actively engage whatever comes out,” he said.

“If there aren't enough resources, we have resources waiting to go into the communities to deal with this. So community members can feel safe and secure that there are firefighters to deal with any issues that arise on their property if and when they choose to evacuate,” he said, adding that he would recommend people evacuate sooner rather than later.

“I'm trying to stress the importance of collaborative work of humans just working together to get things done and it is frustrating to have RCMP blockades. I very much understand that. There's a reason why those are there,” Tower said.

“It's hard to work together when it's when it's a very us versus them mentality,” he continued. “Trust when I tell you we have nothing but good intentions in the work that we're doing. And I'll bring it back to that local response effort. The RCMP, the CSRD, everyone has best intentions and we are all trying to get people back into homes and get on with the recovery piece.”