UPDATE: The Evacuation Alert for the Testalinden Creek Fire has been expanded to include an additional 25 homes. Click here to view an updated map of the Evacuation Alert area.
OLIVER, B.C. – Some positive news today as crews continue to fight two major wildfires burning south and north of Oliver. To the south, an evacuation order spurred by the Testalinden Creek Fire for 100 homes in the Osoyoos area was downgraded to an alert. While people can go home they will have to be ready to leave if the danger returns.
Meanwhile, to the north of Oliver an evacuation alert is still in effect for 260 properties. Mayor Ron Hovanes feels his community has dodged a bullet.
“I don’t think we are quite back to normal, but we are certainly a ways from where we were Friday night and Saturday morning when we were facing an extreme fire storm,” says Hovanes.
“The flames on Friday and Saturday morning, they were so intense and so close to homes. They were just within metres of homes. It scares me to think of what would happen if any of those homes were to have caught on fire. We could have lost hundreds of homes.”
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Concern seems to have subsided in the Oliver area but smoke is still visible as crews continue to fight the fires.
Today helicopters dropped water from the air on the Testalinden Creek Fire, while firefighters on the ground tackled hot spots just steps from a vineyard.
“We are at 40 per cent containment and fire is approximately 1,600 hectares so we have been making some gains on it,” says fire information officer Noelle Kekula.
The B.C. Wildfire Service says there has also been progress on the Wilsons Mountain Fire north of Oliver. Kekula says there was little air support today because there was not a lot of fire activity.
“We are seeing some activity on the northwest flank of the Testalinden Creek Fire so that is where we are putting our priorities,” she says.
The Wilsons Mountain Fire is estimated at 317 hectares and is said to be around 70 per cent contained.
It’s unclear exactly how much damage these blazes have done. The regional district can only say both fires have damaged at least one structure each. One Oliver area man did have his underground home destroyed by the Wilsons Mountain Fire.
The B.C. Wildfire Service says they suspect the Testalinden Creek Fire was sparked by lightning and the Wilsons Mountain Fire was human-caused. However, both blazes remain under investigation.
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