Wildfires delay return to school for dozens in B.C.’s southern Interior
Posted September 5, 2023 4:39 pm.
Last Updated September 5, 2023 7:25 pm.
Tuesday was the first day of school for many students in B.C., but not everyone got to go to class.
A few dozen kids in B.C.’s southern Interior remain in limbo as that region of the province continues to be affected by wildfires.
In the North Shuswap region, there are 130 students who will not begin their school year until the beginning of next week, the local district confirms. The North Okanagan-Shuswap says transportation is being arranged for those who have been affected by wildfires. The other 5,000-plus students in the region will begin classes on Wednesday, which is unrelated to the wildfire situation, the district says.
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Shuswap has been dealing with a complex of fires — primarily the Bush Creek East wildfire, which has damaged or destroyed over 170 structures and continues to leave dozens on evacuation alert.
The Columbia Shuswap Regional District says evacuation orders tied to the Bush Creek East wildfire will drop to alerts on Wednesday, allowing Celista and Magna Bay residents to return in the early afternoon, followed over the next several hours by residents of Scotch Creek, Lee Creek, the Lower East Adams Lake area and Tsutswecw park.
Further southeast, it’s a better outlook for Kelowna, where around 25,000 students returned to the classroom Tuesday.
Central Okanagan Public Schools superintendent Kevin Kaardal tells CityNews almost everyone is able to return to the classroom after the McDougall Creek wildfire threatened the area just a few weeks ago.
“We’ve had just under a couple of handfuls of families who have lost their homes, and staff who have not been able to get back into their homes, so we’ve reached out to support them as well,” he said.
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He says it’s hard to tell how many people are affected by the fires this early into the school year.
“People may or may not come for a variety of reasons. Our principals have reached out to those impacted by housing loss or road closures, and we’ve reached out and tried to find them solutions to get them to school, and so far, that’s working,” he said.
Kaardal notes that six schools in the region are under evacuation alert, but the district is prepared.
“We have emergency plans in place should we need to, and we’re in regular contact with the emergency operations team. Right now, it’s looking really good,” he said.
On Monday, the Central Okanagan Emergency Operations team said 20,111 properties were under evacuation alert in the West Kelowna area, with over 400 on evacuation order.
With files from The Canadian Press, Emma Crawford, and Charlie Carey
