Suspected human-caused wildfire prompts evacuations in B.C.'s south Okanagan

An out-of-control wildfire southwest of Okanagan Falls, B.C., has led to evacuation orders for more than 250 properties in the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen.

The Upper Park Rill Creek wildfire was discovered around 6 a.m. Friday and had already grown to approximately 740 hectares – or 7.4 square kilometres – by early evening, according to the BC Wildfire Service.

"This has been an aggressive new start for this fire," said Shaelee Stearns, fire information officer for the wildfire service, during an RDOS news conference Friday.

"We've seen substantial growth upon the discovery of this fire and continue to see that aggressive fire behaviour."

The latest wildfire is burning not far from another out-of-control wildfire.

The Crater Creek Wildfire in Keremeos is now pegged at more than 22,000 hectares.

Residents and businesses in the vicinity of the two raging wildfires are watching the situation unfold with caution.

“Everybody’s on edge,” said Chris Mathieson, the site manager of the Grills Mill and Gardens in Keremeos.

“Right now there's a lot of uncertainty. The fire has been burning for the last couple of days aggressively seems to be calm in our direction, but we have a brand new wildfire happening up in the Twin Lakes area about 10 kilometers to the north of us that seems to be growing very quickly,” he said, describing the Crater Creek and Upper Park Rill Creek wildfires.

HUNDREDS FORCED TO FLEE

The 257 properties on evacuation order due to the Upper Park Rill Creek blaze are located in the regional district's electoral areas C, G, and I, and include the entirety of the small community of Willowbrook.

Another 246 properties in the same electoral areas were on evacuation alert as of mid-afternoon Friday.

Mathieson has opened up his campground to shelter evacuees.

“(We're) just trying to support our community in any way that we can. We originally had events planned all weekend long that obviously we've cancelled, partly for people's safety but also just for everybody's comfort,” he said.

An interactive map on the RDOS website allows residents to view the latest orders and alerts and search for their specific addresses. 

The wildfire service lists the Upper Park Rill Creek fire as human-caused. 

Castanet News spoke to Sheldon York, who said a fire sparked at his parents' home in the region early Friday morning. 

"I got a call out at work saying my family's house was burned to the ground," he said. "My mom woke up to the smell of smoke and fire crackling. They just made it out."

The rural community, known as Twin Lakes, does not have a fire department or any other organized fire suppression team, according to Castanet. 

Stearns said four initial attack crews, "three single resources" and three helicopters are assigned to the blaze, along with heavy equipment.

"Crews mainly, today, are focusing on structure protection and triaging and assessing that and setting up where it is necessary," Stearns said.

She said the majority of the growth crews are seeing has been on the blaze's southeastern flank. The nearest large community in that direction is the Town of Oliver, the boundary for which was about a kilometre away from the edge of the evacuation alerts that were in place as of Friday afternoon.