Harvey Ave., or Highway 97, was shut down Monday night for more than an hour when a brush fire quickly took off into trees beside the route next to a condominium complex.
The fire was spotted at 11:10 p.m. on the north side of Harvey between Burtch Ave. and Gordon Drive.
Traffic in both directions on Harvey was detoured around the site on residential streets.
The Kelowna Fire Department spent more than a half hour pouring water on underbrush, tall pine trees and grass on a ten metre wide slope leading up to a retaining wall where the property line of the the Laurentian Heights condo complex begins.
After fire crews had finished their work, RCMP moved in with flashlights, their light revealing piles of refuse that looked to be part of a make-shift campsite on the highway side of the retaining wall at the base of tall trees.
The temperature was only 12 Celcius at the time of the fire.
RCMP and fire officials have yet to release official details at the time of publishing.
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