Fire crews responding to Peachland blaze discover huge illegal dumpsite

A fire Sunday afternoon in Peachland has resulted in the discovery of a massive amount of discarded debris on the rural property just above the intersection of Highway 97 and the Okanagan Connector.

“Pretty disgusting for sure,” said Peachland fire chief Dennis Craig during a visit to the site Monday morning. “We’re not talking pickup loads of garbage up here. It was heavy equipment that brought it up.”

Among the junk items scattered widely over the property are dozens of tires, numerous home appliances, piles of household garbage, construction and industrial debris and an old vehicle.

The fire started in one of the large debris piles.

“Between us and the West Kelowna Fire Department we made it as safe as we could,” said Craig. “Now we’re starting the investigation process of what to do going forward.”

Craig says the property is within District of Peachland boundaries and is probably owned by the provincial government.

“Highway right-of-way I believe. We’re still investigating the ownership.”

Cleaning up the massive amount of waste will be a lengthy and costly process.

“Now that we’re aware of it, we’ll work with the owners or whoever is responsible for it and go through the process.”

It’s not known how the fire started.