Osoyoos community comes together as wildfire forces evacuations

A large wildfire straddling the U.S.-Canada border is spreading dangerously close to the town of Osoyoos in B.C.’s southern interior, with more than 700 properties now under evacuation orders and an additional 2,000 on alert.

Mayor Sue McKortoff says she received many calls over the weekend from people eager to open up their homes and properties to anyone displaced by the Eagle Bluff wildfire, which was only four kilometres away from the resort town as of Sunday afternoon.

“I’ve had other people phone and say they’d be happy to feed the firefighters and our volunteers, please let them know,” she told reporters at the weekend wildfire update. “We really appreciate all the interest in this and all of the people who have volunteered to help. It really is wonderful to know we have that support in our community.”

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The wildfire has spread rapidly up from the U.S. since Saturday, reaching nearly nine square kilometres on the Canadian side of the border and 40 square kilometres in Washington state by late Sunday.

“At first, we thought it was just a wildfire down in the States and it never occurred to me that it was going to come across the border,” said McKortoff. “And then it got a little scary because of the wind. It seemed to move north very quickly. And as soon as it got a little bit darker, you could see all of the flames up there. It was pretty scary and it was moving very quickly.”

Since then, the weather has been more favourable for the 50 crew battling the fire.

The BC Wildfire Service is responding to the Lone Pine Creek wildfire (K52318), located approximately 5km southwest of Osoyoos. The wildfire is currently burning on the south side of the Canada-United States Border, a wildfire officer and helicopter are assessing the incident. pic.twitter.com/kbhtx6cRG2

— BC Wildfire Service (@BCGovFireInfo) July 30, 2023

Air support and heavy equipment have also been assigned to the Eagle Bluff wildfire.

“There’s a couple of positives here,” said CityNews Meteorologist Michael Kuss. “The negative is (there’s) no precipitation in sight, which is not uncommon for Osoyoos and the South Okanagan this time of year, but the temperatures are not sweltering. They’re below or around average in the low 30s and upper 20s for the rest of the week.”

Kuss says the second positive is winds are set to blow mainly from the northeast for the next day or so.

“Number one, that’s blowing the smoke out of town. Number two, it’s also pushing the fire back toward the U.S. border, at least allowing them to get a barrier on the north edges of the fire. That’s what we’re keeping an eye on,” he said.

People have been asked to stay off the popular Osoyoos Lake to stay out of the way of water bombers. There is also a request for residents and visitors to conserve water to keep local reservoirs as full as possible to help fight the flames.

The cause of the Eagle Bluffs fire, which started in Washington state, is still under investigation.