Despite the status of the Christie Mountain wildfire being still at zero % contained, it was a relief to hear that the strong winds, which registered at 65 km per hour at it’s peak, did not cause significant increase to its size and coverage.

3700 homes are now on evacuation alert, which means they need to be ready within ten minutes of a door knock, in order to relocate to a non-alert zone. 300 homes have been evacuated. From my window I can still see active plumes of black smoke coming from the mountain only a few kilometres away, but I cannot help thinking we must have dodged a bullet, thanks to the scores of visiting fire fighters who’d come from as far away as Vancouver Island. The Heli-tankers seemed to take care of any flare ups as they happened and the BC Wildfire service set up large sprinkler systems to increase humidity at interface areas, such as Wiltse, Carmi, Pineview and Valleyview. All areas near to us.

My home is located across from a park in central Penticton. If a fire did fully breach the Evac alert zone, it would still have a far stretch to make it over to my place. But still, if conditions were windy and dry enough, there are enough old trees lining our street to easily ignite with a few stray live embers. I believe it was this possibility that concerned fire crews the most. I am impressed at the proactive response to the fire by all crews involved, and this incident, as much of a threat that it still poses, has been a wake up call for everyone.  The threat of fire is very real to our little area; we’ve seen it happen in other jurisdictions and the damage it can cause both destructively and emotionally can be devastating.

Currently my kids are with their mother over on her property which is out of the way and the best place for them to be. For myself, I still have a Rubbermaid tote packed, my guitar and my cat so we are all good to go at the drop of a hat.

I will stay posted on progress as we move into the weekend, but, for now it appears we are out of the woods.

Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

Over and out

Simon