Residents of two West Kelowna neighbourhoods have been able to return home — for now — after being forced to evacuate Tuesday.
Evacuations were ordered for homes located along 10 streets in the Casa Loma and Lakeview Heights areas due to a fast-moving wildfire near Okanagan Lake.
Related:
They aren’t out danger yet, however, as a total of 742 homes in the area remain under evacuation alert.
One resident, Jan, tells 1130 NewsRadio he and his family were concerned by how close the blaze was to their home.
“I want to say it was about less than 100 feet away from our house,” he said.
“We saw the flames pretty close by, and that’s a little bit scary to see.”
The fire department came to their property to tell them to start packing, Jan says.
He says they aren’t surprised by the development, as they are always ready to evacuate if necessary.
“This is not the first time that we had a fire here in [Kalamoir Regional Park],” he said.
“Years and years ago, there were fires. So this is, I think, now our third time. So we are prepared.”
Joe, another resident, says he and his wife and daughter had 45 minutes to pack up after winds whipped up smoke from the fire a block away from their house.
He says he is grateful because they are safe.
“We are fine,” he said.
“Everything else is just stuff, and we are fine.”
The eight-hectare fire burned out of control for much of Tuesday, before firefighters deemed it as being held shortly before dinnertime.
The BC Wildfire Service website said the suspected cause of the blaze was human activity.
— With files from The Canadian Press and Jan Schuermann