NEAR OLIVER — On Thursday, Global News got a bird’s-eye view of the Testalinden Creek Wildfire aftermath.
The blaze was the largest wildfire in the south Okanagan last summer, scorching 5,200 hectares and forcing multiple evacuations throughout the weeks due to sudden flare ups.
The fire was official out December 21, 2015.
No homes were destroyed, but flames knocked down electrical lines and damaged power poles, impacting FortisBC commercial customers.
“Fires impact communities in terrible ways. There’s also impacts to structures in the backcountry that we don’t always think about, which is why we want to bring some awareness to it,” said FortisBC spokesperson Nicole Bogdanovic.
Bogdanovic says 2.5 kilometres of line were impacted and 28 poles had to be replaced.
The repair work took about three weeks and started after fire officials declared the area safe last fall.
“Just for accessibility, Testalinden was by far the worst,” said Kelly Corfield, a supervisor at the utility company. “Not only do you have to worry about a tree blowing over top of you, you’ve got to worry about the holes where the fire has gone into the ground and burned the roots. So again, a very tough situation for the guys.”
Crews had to bring in specialized excavators and manually climb each pole to restring the power line.
It’s believed the wildfire was started by lightning.