NEWS PENTICTON WESTERN
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Summerland mayor announces candidacy for Liberal party
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VOL.46 ISSUE 73
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Survivors make a splash in Penticton
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2012 2 Pentastic Hot Jazz Festival a
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FIRE SEASON NOT OVER Black Press
A wild¿re causing over one thousand to be put on evacuation notice is a stern reminder that ¿re season is still upon the Okanagan. “With the cooler temperatures and precipitation, Penticton is at a moderate to high danger ¿re rating and it is high really from Summerland south to the border,” said Michaela Swan, ¿re information of¿cer. “It is pretty typical for this time of year until we really get the rains and cooler temperatures in the fall we wont see that rating change.” Trevor Smith, meteorologist with Environment Canada, said a high pressure ridge is holding onto warmer conditions with temperatures hovering in the 20s until after the weekend. In other words, we won’t see a lot of precipitation for awhile yet if the ridge holds on. Smith said so far in September they have recorded 3.2 millimetres of rainfall in Penticton and the average for the month is 24.7. A de¿cit was also recorded for Penticton in August with only four mm of rainfall and the normal being 30.7 mm. Weather mounted one of the biggest challenges in the Trepanier ¿re that broke out Sunday afternoon in Peachland. Four houses and several outbuildings were casualties after gusty winds caught hold of the Àames. This put of¿cials on edge, concerned that the number of houses lost in the ¿re could rise if the weather continued. Crews have been working around the clock since Sunday afternoon to get a hold on the blaze. As of Tuesday afternoon the ¿re was 75 per cent contained. Out of the 1,500 Peachland residents that were alerted to leave, many left with just the clothes on
Aaron Snyder/Nothingman Photography
PLANES DROP FIRE RETARDENT admist an eerie backdrop of smoke on Sunday in this photo taken near the Coquihalla connector during a wildfire in the Trepanier area of Peachland that consumed four homes and outbuildings and 200 hectares.
their backs, their pets and a few personal belongings. Charles Kilpatrick, had a bit more time. He was able to spray down the outside of his house with water and left when he saw two houses on ¿re — one in the Desert Pines area and another above the Hainle Vineyards Winery. Kilpatrick said even though he has lived in the area for seven years and can recall other wild¿res, Sunday’s blaze in Peachland was “eerie.” At its height, the wind was estimated to be blowing at 40 kilo-
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metres per hour with gusts up to 60 km/h. Two homes in the Trepanier area went up in tandem, and all efforts to save them were stymied. “This was a wind-driven event,” stressed Jim Mottishaw, a forest protection of¿cer who helped coordinate the air assault, noting the ¿re moved three km over the course of an hour. That said, he’s con¿dent the damage was kept at a minimum despite windy and dangerous conditions.
“Besides the homes lost, there are quite a few painted red (from retardant),” he said. That and the burnt husks of trees around a number of residential houses should offer some insight into how narrowly damage was averted, he said, noting that the Ponderosa golf course may be the unsung hero of the ¿re¿ght. Years previous, when trees were removed and the area was landscaped, a ¿re barrier was inadvertently built and that helped the battle on the Trepanier side of the ¿re.
That’s in part how crews gained the upper hand there — reporting containment on that side of the ¿re — but the Pincushion side of the mountain is another story. The challenge is putting out hotspots and burning that are spread over a signi¿cant swath of land. Speculation of the cause of the ¿re has run rampant and everything from a house ¿re gone wild to a stray meteor and discarded cigarette have been tossed around as theories. Of¿cials said the cause is still under investigation.
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