Big Okanagan fire burning out of control

The Okanagan Mountain Park fire, south of Kelowna, is now five times bigger than it it was on Tuesday morning. It covers more than 110-square kilometres and has consumed 95 per cent of the park.

CBC News Posted: Aug 20, 2003 9:46 PM EDT | Last Updated: August 21, 2003

The Okanagan Mountain Park fire, south of Kelowna, is now five times bigger than it it was on Tuesday morning. It covers more than 110-square kilometres and has consumed 95 per cent of the park.

B.C. Fires Image Gallery

Fire information officer Kevin Matuga says the "phenomenal" growth of the fire is beyond anything that crews have ever seen before.

"There's absolutely nothing our crews, or equipment or helicopters can do to stop the fire from spreading that fast," he says.

LINK: Latest graphic of Okanagan Mountain fire

While winds have died down in the area on Wednesday, officials say the situation remains volatile.

About 3,000 people are on evacuation alert on Kelowna's southern outskirts and in the Naramata area.

About 80 people have already moved out of their homes in the Kelowna area, and as many as 60 others have been been forced to move out of small rural communities north of Naramata.

"North of Naramata has been evacuated actually already, the area out by Paradise Ranch, Indian Rock, Glenfir, Chute Lake all that area has already been evacuated," says emergency centre spokesperson Mary Simonin.

Officials have ordered a complete watering ban for people on the Naramata water system, and a boil water advisory has also been issued.

LINK: Provincial Emergency Program fire updates

Chute Lake resort owner Donna Reid says the flames have jumped the lake and have destroyed one of the seven cabins on the property.

Reid says they got out on Tuesday, but her husband and a co-worker are still there trying to protect the resort with help from forest service workers.

INTERVIEW: The Early Edition's Kevin Sylvester speaks with CBC reporter David French and with Fire Information Officer Steve Bachop. (Runs 7:51)

In the meantime, the McLure/Barriere fire north of Kamloops now covers 237 square kilometres.

Another 400 people were evacuated from the region on Tuesday, bringing the latest evacuation total to about 1,000.

More than 900 people in the community of Pritchard, 35 kilometres east of Kamloops, have been forced from their homes by the McGillivray fire. They had about an hour's notice to leave Wednesday evening.

Earlier, that fire had forced another 500 people out of their homes and thousands more remain on standby alert.

There's also fire trouble in the Kootenays. The Ingersoll blaze in the Arrow Lake area has forced 25 people from their homes.

And just four kilometers from Grand Forks, Canadian and U.S. firefighters have slowed the advance of the Togo Mountain blaze in Washington State.

Reinforcements on the way

More troops are being sent to fight B.C.'s forest fires. The army is sending 340 soldiers to Vernon at the request of the provincial government.

The move will brings the total number of soldiers fighting fires in B.C. to more than 700.

LINK: Satellite photo of fires

B.C. is relying heavily on out-of-province firefighters this year military and non-military. In 1998, more than 500 firefighters came from other provinces. This year, there closer to 800 to 900.

A total of more than 3,500 people are now fighting the fires across B.C.

That's burning a considerable hole in the provincial budget, with the cost approaching $150 million making this the most expensive fire season on record.

INTERVIEW: B.C. Almanac's Mark Forsythe speaks with Naramata-area vineyard owner Brian Hardman and to Kelowna resident Clayton Rowley. (Runs 7:06)

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