Vancouver: Two of the three fires making up a devastating wildfire complex that destroyed almost 200 homes around Lake Okanagan in the B.C. Interior are now under control.
But the BC Wildfire Service says the region’s most destructive fire, the McDougall Creek blaze in West Kelowna, continues to defy suppression efforts.
The three fires make up the Grouse fire complex that forced thousands of people to evacuate and has been a key front in B.C.’s worst wildfire season on record since the McDougall Creek fire swept down on West Kelowna on Aug. 17, setting neighbourhoods ablaze.
The Lake Country and Clifton-McKinley fires on the east side of Lake Okanagan then sprang into life, threatening the City of Kelowna and properties to the north.
The Central Okanagan emergency operations centre says although those two fires are now under control, evacuation alerts remain in place, and residents need to be ready to leave at short notice.
Firefighters are meanwhile warning residents in northern B.C. that forecast high winds are likely to feed the growth of wildfires over the next two days.
The wildfire service says it is “anticipating increased fire behaviour” in the Northwest and Prince George fire centres — encompassing the northern half of the province — from Friday into
Saturday.