The city of Kelowna was in a “good position” on Monday morning, with cool weather having helped firefighters attack — rather than defend against — the out-of-control McDougall Creek wildfire.
Mayor Tom Dyas said the Kelowna International Airport was able to receive a handful of controlled flights on Sunday and is expected to do so again Monday.
The Kelowna Law Courts reopened Monday as well, although the municipality and first responders have yet to take stock of all the infrastructure damaged from the 11,000-hectare blaze.
“The next couple of days is going to be tough for a lot of members of our community because as they start to do the structural evaluations, reality will kick in that there’s homes that have been lost. There’s going to be a lot of emotion,” Dyas said.
Structures have been lost in Kelowna and Lake Country, but the majority are in West Kelowna, he added.
The update comes as more than 27,000 people are under evacuation orders across the province and some 35,000 are under evacuation alerts from more than 380 wildfires. There are 11 wildfires of note that are highly visible or threatening human health and safety.
According to Environment Canada, there’s a 40 per cent chance of showers in Kelowna and West Kelowna on Monday afternoon, in addition to an air quality statement for smoky skies.
“The air is staying cool, there’s good humidity in the air,” Dyas said. “In speaking with the fire chiefs yesterday, because of the cooler temperatures they were able to start to attack the fire and look at attacking it more so than defending it.
“They’ve made some good progress and will continue to make some more progress today.”
Evacuation orders have been lifted for residents in the University of British Columbia campus area and Quail Ridge, he added, although they remain on evacuation alert.
Forrest Tower of the BC Wildfire Service, however, maintained that Monday’s fire fight will be “challenging,” with wind gusts between 20 and 40 kilometres per hour expected. Hurricane Hilary in Southern California is impacting the weather in B.C., he added.
“Today is most likely going to be the last day of challenging weather that’s going to still have some fairly aggressive fire behaviour potentially,” Tower said.
“After after getting through today, we should potentially receive some precipitation into this evening, into tomorrow, and then much lower wind speed.”
Meanwhile, wildland firefighting and structure protection are still in full swing, particularly in the Columbia Shuswap region, where the new Bush Creek East wildfire burns at more than 41,000 hectares in size, Tower said. That fire was so named after the Lower East Adams Lake fire complex merged with an adjacent fire.
Staff from more than 30 municipalities across the province have to come to the aid of West Kelowna and Kelowna, in addition to the Canadian Coast Guard, the Canadian Armed Forces and the RCMP.
Cpl. James Grandy of the RCMP’s Southeast District said the Mounties are “very confident” in their ability to protect evacuated homes and property.
On Sunday, Tower told Global News that firefighting gear had been stolen from crews fighting the new Bush Creek East wildfire.
“It might be a little bit chaotic,” Grandy said Monday.
“Specifically in the Kelowna area, I’m not aware of any of those reports, however, in those communities and those areas where equipment has been unfortunately stolen, or misplaced, I can assure you that our investigators in the RCMP are taking it very seriously and following up with everything that we can.”