Resort residents outside Peachland fire protection zone battle blaze

Residents in a Peachland neighbourhood dealt with a long and exhausting night after a nearby structure went up in flames.

The fire started around 5 p.m., Thursday, at the poolhouse at Camp Okanagan Resort on Paradise Valley Road, across from the Peachland RV Park.

“It was pretty intense. It didn’t take long for one-half of the roof to start collapsing. I’d say the flames were about six feet above the top of the roof,” said Riley Dunlop, a Camp Okanagan Resort resident.

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“We thought that if we did have a fire truck here, I imagine it would have gone out right away,” said Angie Braun, the Peachland RV Park property manager.

“I’m not even sure where the fire started because it looked like it was just at the top. Then all of a sudden, about two hours later, it was engulfed and it was pretty dramatic; it was snapping and crackling.”

Braun says she called 911 to get first responders to the scene, and they told her that help would be coming.

However, once police arrived, they told her the fire department would not be responding as the structure was outside of the city’s fire protection area.

Police advised her and the residents to let the fire burn.

Global News has reached out to RCMP for comment.

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With no help on the way, a few residents fought the flames themselves.

“It burned halfway through and the guys the rest of the way just put it out with a small hose. Once it got to a point, they started pushing down the walls to get the flames out, which lasted for about six, seven hours,” Braun said.

“None of us have the training for this stuff, and to think that one of us could have gotten hurt. The thing I was thrown back by was that we were all by ourselves.”

Braun is now hoping the Regional District of Central Okanagan will expand its fire protection areas.

For now, though, the RV park is planning to install a fire suppression system to prevent a similar incident.