While more residents in the West Kelowna area are slowly returning home, the month-old McDougall Creek wildfire is still deemed to be out of control.
And on Friday, the BC Wildfire Service issued a reminder that operating a drone in the area is illegal.
“Fire operations have been disrupted by drones in the fire area,” said BC Wildfire. “This puts the lives of our first responders and the public at risk.
“The airspace used by wildfire response aircraft is prohibited to limit any interference and to allow aircraft to focus on wildfire suppression.”
The fire is listed at 13,970 hectares, roughly the same size it was last weekend, and features a massive area that’s under evacuation order.
According to the province, all wildfires are considered to be automatically “flight restricted” via federal aviation regulations.
Also Friday, BC Wildfire updated its area restriction order for the wildfire.
The new order took effect at noon and will remain in place until Oct. 3 or until it’s rescinded.
“This area restriction reflects the need to protect public and BC Wildfire Service personnel safety in areas where fire suppression activities are taking place,” said BC Wildfire.
There are exceptions to entering the area, and those exceptions are:
- Travelling as a person acting in an official capacity
- Travelling for the purpose of supporting wildfire suppression activities
- Travelling to or from a principal residence that is not under an evacuation order
- Travelling to or from a secondary residence or recreational property that is not under an evacuation order;
- Using a highway as defined in the Highway Act
- Engaging and/or participating in agricultural activities on Crown land, private land or leased property
BC Wildfire noted that the order also applies to Crown land and that the public must remain out of active fire areas.
It also said failure to comply may result in a violation ticket of $1,150.