UPDATE: Westside Road has now reopened to the public.
UPDATE: Residents forced from their homes for four days will be heading back this afternoon, as the Evacuation Order for the Shelter Cove Fire has been lifted. The homes remain under an Evacuation Alert. Westside Road is only open to local traffic. Fire crews have now contained 25 per cent of the Shelter Cove fire. This is the first report of containment since the blaze sparked Monday.
NEAR WEST KELOWNA — Fire fighters on the ground got help from the sky Thursday as they battled the 460 hectare Shelter Cove Fire on the west side of Okanagan Lake.
The blaze is now being described as mostly a smoldering ground fire with some pockets of open flame.
“We are definitely not in the same situation that we were over the course of Monday or even Tuesday,” said fire information officer, Melissa Klassen. “Yesterday and today have been very good days for fire suppression efforts and this morning the fire was the quietest it has been to date.”
Read More: Shelter Cove Fire grows to 460 hectares
As the fire fight continues from the air and on the ground, 70 properties are still under an evacuation order.
“We apologize and we know it is an inconvenience and we know that it is a real stress on a lot of people,” said Bruce Smith a spokesperson for the Regional District of Central Okanagan, which ordered the evacuation.
The regional district says it’s not safe for anyone to return home yet and there is no timeline for when residents may be able to go back to their properties.
Wednesday afternoon a further 72 hours of accommodation was approved for those evacuated.
“That 72 hours is if needed, hopefully it isn’t,” said Smith.
The blaze has also lead to a major power outage along Westside Road. BC Hydro says it was asked on Monday to de-energize one of its lines. Wednesday they began to provide rotating power to many of those still impacted by the outage.
Thursday the crown corporation said it had brought in diesel generators. Starting Friday, the utility hopes it will be able to provide ongoing power to those currently only getting power part of the day and the La Casa Resort, which was not included in the rotating power plan.
However, this will still leave some BC Hydro customers, that the utility says are “directly in the fire zone,” with no electricity.
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