NEWS PENTICTON WESTERN
www.pentictonwesternnews.com
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Report gives Okanagan Lake Dam a clean bill of health
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VOL.46 ISSUE 53
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WEDNESDAY, JULY 4, 2012
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HIGH AND DRY
Lack of water supply hampers firefighters’ efforts to combat blaze Mark Brett Western News Staff
Last month’s unusually soggy conditions may have prevented a potentially horri¿c interface ¿re last weekend. Despite being hampered by a lack of water availability, ¿re¿ghters were able to prevent a blaze at a multi-level structure at 1133 Spiller Rd. from igniting the surrounding wooded area and destroying other nearby homes. Now one area property owner is again raising concerns about the need for improved water service for ¿re¿ghting in the event those living in the region are not so lucky next time around. “If this had been a normal July 1st weekend and we had the 30-3030 situation — 30 degrees Celsius, 30-degree humidity and 30-kilometre winds from any direction, we would have had a replica of Kelowna (August, 2003)” said Steve Boultbee, who lives about a 100 yards from the building that went up in Àames early Saturday morning. “We were all sleeping and that house would have burnt to the ground, and likely the 14 other residences as well. “The (possible) ¿re I’m talking about relative to Kelowna goes down into the city (Penticton) from here or sweeps into Naramata, and given the state of the forest and all the fuel that’s in it, we’re talking an enormous ¿re — we’re talking lives. Something given the right circumstances could be enormously catastrophic.”
Mark Brett/Western News
STEVE BOULTBEE stands outside the burnt remains of his neighbour’s home in the 1100 block of Spiller Road Tuesday afternoon. He and others in the area are urging the city to look at providing improved water service for firefighting following Saturday’s early-morning blaze.
In the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire nine years ago, 250 square kilometres and over 200 buildings were destroyed. About 27,000 people were evacuated. Boultbee was ¿rst alerted to the situation when he heard the lone siren of a ¿re truck about 1 a.m. As he walked down the stairs from his bedroom, he noticed his ground Àoor of¿ce was completely illuminated, and once outside he saw Àames shooting into the night sky over top of the 60-foot ponderosa pines surrounding the house. “As I walked towards it, it was bright and it was going like hell,” he
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that’s totally out of control, and if it had been drier and windy you go into evacuation mode and that’s the only thing those guys could have done.” The ¿rst two trucks are only able to carry 600-800 gallons of water, which only lasted a matter of minutes before they needed re¿lling. The city’s larger tender truck, which holds 3,500 gallons and has a portable tank, arrived sometime later, but even that supply only lasts 10-12 minutes. “Under normal circumstances, by the time the tender gets here it’s ancient history,” he said. Additional support was also even-
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recalled. “I could feel the heat, but it was strange because it was so quiet.” Two trucks and four ¿re¿ghters were ¿rst on the scene, and he helped the crews as they struggled with the two ¿res, but because the nearest hydrant was nearly three kilometres away on Naramata Road, there was little they could do. “They were a true team, everybody’s moving pretty quick, no panic, clearly well-trained men, fabulous equipment, but what do you do with the best trained men and the best equipment and no water when it comes to ¿ghting a ¿re?” said Boultbee. “Here is this friggin house ¿re
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tually provided by the Naramata Volunteer Fire Department and B.C. Forest Service. There was only one person at the house at the time of the ¿re, a renter who was in a downstairs suite. He escaped unharmed. Capt. Howard Grantham of the Penticton Fire Department agreed the situation could have been much worse. “We are fortunate because if it had been drier or this had been the end of July, we could have had some real serious problems for the other homes in the area,” he said. “This was within two or three houses of the actual end of our ¿re protection boundary and there is no water supply out there. “It lit the trees and grass on ¿re, so one truck was working at keeping that at bay while the other truck was trying to do some work on the house ¿re,” said Grantham. “We ended up having to shuttle water, which made it very dif¿cult. The boys had a tough time.” Boultbee pointed out the issue has been raised with the city before and there was even a draft plan being considered which would see the installation of a large holding tank on nearby municipal property. “Now we need council to say yes we’re going to spend the money, to pull the trigger on it. There’s nothing stopping them other than somebody signing the purchase order,” he said. According to Fire Chief Wayne Williams, city of¿cials were to begin working with a consulting ¿rm Tuesday on a review of all aspects of department services, including those for the more rural areas like Spiller Road. The cause of Saturday’s ¿re is unknown. Easy Financing Options Available*
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