B.C. Premier David Eby travelled to the Interior on Wednesday to visit the areas that have been ravaged by wildfires.
“It has been very moving to visit Penticton for myself, meeting all of the incredible volunteers, all of the remarkable wildfire fighters, and the local leaders who have responded in this time of crisis for the community,” Eby said at a press conference in Penticton on Wednesday afternoon.
He said he was at the reception centre when a woman named Diane was reunited with her cat after she had been forced to flee her home.
“I want to acknowledge the passing of a woman from Meadow Valley during the evacuation and send my condolences to her family and friends for that tragic loss, as well as for all of the people who have lost so much in this horrific fire,” Eby added.
Thousands of people remain out of their homes due to the Bald Range wildfire that sparked on Friday evening.
Get daily National news
Homes have been lost to the fire and it is unclear when the residents will be allowed home.
“The stories that I heard were very consistent, and they were around the speed of this horrific fire, from the wildfire service perspective, that it overran their modeling, and how quickly they had to pivot from what they call initial attack, where they show up to respond to a fire that’s been reported to just providing notice, getting people out as quickly as possible, knocking on doors, dropping the buckets and just using the helicopters to get people lifted out of the area,” Eby said.
“From the local leadership perspective, anticipating an event that would require an evacuation alert and then an actual evacuation was not a luxury that they had; this happened immediately.”
Eby added that the province recognizes that initially the influx of people to the reception centres was overwhelming and the services were not prepared to handle that many people, but he said there were lessons learned.
Summerland’s Mayor Doug Holmes said the community will need the provincial government’s support as they move into the recovery phase and people can return home.
“It’s going to be a long, difficult recovery and we’ll need the government to be there, supporting us the same way they’re supporting us now in the response phase,” he said.
“And that was kind of, I think, the main thing that we talked about and I have every confidence that the government won’t forget about us.”
this is not a political issue, unless your a conservative. the system was set up for 2 to 5 thousand, not 12 thousand, the conservative’s should shut the hell up and realize their 71 year leader cant even go to the area without an oxygen bottle , stop laying political blame and just help the people, just an FYI, I very much dislike the NDP and Eby
In fact most Conservatives in BC don’t even believe human caused climate change exists. I guess when you’re that stupid all you can do is blame David Eby 🤣🤣
Only the idiotic Conservatives are blaming the NDP and Eby for the forest fires in BC. That’s just how desperate and out of touch with reality they really are. Everyone else (Aka sane people that understand basic science) are blaming human caused climate change brought on by the oil & gas companies that continue to shove their product down people’s throats… all in the name of profits… and those profits are in the billions
Eby provides nothing of value, just lip service on his part.
Information regarding Clinton B.C., and area? Provincial media and government totally disregard all areas North of Kamloops.
He’s there to give the fns the go ahead for new homes while the rest of the community digs for artifacts for five years
the useless NDP
The Okanagan region as a valuable Provincial treasure that must be protected by locals, First Nations, governments and BC and Canadian residents that own homes or cottages here.
May the rebuild plans consider the dangers of bottlenecks as we here in Peachland have endured before. They close the highways and we can’t leave. They close the airports and we cannot fly to family living in the coast. SUMMERLAND IS a national treasure and we pledge that the rebuilding respects the community desire to keep Summerland a glorious Farmers and Winery community that we all love. Thank you Premier Eby and all the First responders, volunteers, firefighters, the Mexican Firefighters, here we are praying for you and the people of Summerland and Penticton, the First Nations Communities affected in West side Road, Vernon and Here in Central and Southern Okanagan.
He was too busy going away a whack of Vancouver Island to the Natives to make an appearance to areas where real people lost everything and will receive nothing from the government.
I hope the fire was not the result of some person cooking stolen hot dogs over a fire cause if that’s the case, I hope I am on the jury that gets to convict them.
NDP are not fit to govern.
After immense pressure two weeks ago to make appearances, be present, and declare a state of emergency, Eby refused to do any of those things after not being seen stating he didn’t think it was necessary because doing so would be a distraction! The crews working the fires didn’t need the interruption.
Well looky looky who’s all over it now with appearances and statements. Seems as though the defunct NDP knows they care cooked for the way they have handled this season’s fires. And Parmar is USELESS!!
just not enough from the NDP, bloody useless government