Crews battling new, ‘vigorous’ wildfire near Peachland, officials say
Posted September 17, 2023 2:51 pm.
Last Updated September 17, 2023 9:10 pm.
BC Wildfire Service crews are battling a new wildfire near Glen Lake, which is about 15 km west of the town of Peachland just outside of West Kelowna.
Evan Lizotte, a fire information officer with the service, says the Glen Lake fire is showing aggressive fire behaviour.
“It’s been a moderately vigorous surface fire to extremely vigorous surface fire to active crown fire, so we’re just actively working this fire today,” Lizotte said.
“We do have one…attack crew, some heavy equipment, and then we have two helicopters bucketing the operation throughout the day.”
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He says the new Glen Lake fire is being managed by the same team as the McDougall Creek wildfire.
“We will assess the situation on both fires, and whatever we feel is the best priority to utilize our resources, we will utilize them to our best of our abilities,” he said.
The Glen Lake fire is thought to be human-caused and is burning out of control at 100 hectares in size, officials say.
The Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre has evacuated eight recreational properties in the area as a precaution.
Meantime, Lizotte says the McDougall Creek fire was seeing reduced activity Sunday, but the fire is burning some new fuels within its current perimeter.
He says that will make for smoky conditions around Kelowna and the Central Okanagan.
Environment Canada has issued a special air quality statement for the central Okanagan urging people to stay indoors.
