{"id":82722,"date":"2021-07-20T11:25:18","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T15:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/?p=82722"},"modified":"2021-07-20T11:25:30","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T15:25:30","slug":"wildfire-between-oliver-and-osoyoos-grows-evacuation-orders-issued-for-hundreds-of-properties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/canada\/wildfire-between-oliver-and-osoyoos-grows-evacuation-orders-issued-for-hundreds-of-properties\/","title":{"rendered":"Wildfire between Oliver and Osoyoos grows, evacuation orders issued for hundreds of properties"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"Wildfire
A picture of the Inkaneep Creek wildfire from Oliver, B.C. (Submitted by James Moore)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hundreds of properties in the southern tip of\u00a0B.C.’s Okanagan Valley have been ordered to evacuate after a wildfire that sparked Monday afternoon grew quickly within hours.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Calls grow for B.C. to declare state of emergency over wildfires, but province is standing firm<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/section>\n

Fire officials in the region have warned to expect more\u00a0evacuation alerts and orders.<\/p>\n

The wildfire \u2014 dubbed the\u00a0Inkaneep Creek wildfire\u00a0\u2014 is on\u00a0Osoyoos Indian Band land in between the towns of Oliver and\u00a0Osoyoos, about 40 kilometres south of Penticton.<\/p>\n

It quickly grew from three\u00a0hectares (.03 square kilometres) to more than three square kilometres\u00a0over the course of a few hours Monday afternoon. As of 9 p.m. PT, it was seven square kilometres in size. Crews remained at the site\u00a0overnight.<\/p>\n

The Oliver-Osoyoos region is a popular tourist destination, famed for its wineries.<\/p>\n

The first evacuation order, covering almost 200 properties,\u00a0was issued by the Osoyoos Indian Band Monday evening.<\/p>\n

Chief\u00a0Clarence Louie with the Osoyoos Indian Band said the Oliver Fire Department was able to save the houses closest to the fire.<\/p>\n

“As far as we know, at this time and moment, no houses have been lost, which is great,” Louie said. “They did an outstanding job.”<\/p>\n

\"The
The Inkaneep Creek wildfire is burning about six kilometres north of Osoyoos, B.C., on Osoyoos Indian Band land. (B.C. Wildfire Service\/Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Members of the band who evacuated are staying in hotels in the Oliver-Osoyoos area for the time being, he\u00a0said. Some have elected to stay behind.<\/p>\n

Nearly 3,000 customers in the area had their power cut off\u00a0due to the wildfire for several hours on Monday evening. FortisBC says it was a deliberate interruption in order to support\u00a0local emergency services in Oliver and Osoyoos.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen\u00a0has declared a local state of emergency.\u00a0Martin Johansen, the mayor of Oliver, says the town, which has a population of about 5,000, has also declared a local state of emergency.<\/p>\n

Late Monday evening,\u00a0the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen\u00a0issued an evacuation order for\u00a0several dozen\u00a0properties east of the wildfire.<\/p>\n

RCMP and Search and Rescue teams have been deployed to help people evacuate from the area.<\/p>\n

\"Oliver
Flames are visible in the hills behind cottages in Oliver, B.C. (Anita Bathe\/CBC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dawn Roberts, a spokesperson for the B.C. RCMP, says\u00a0members from both the Osoyoos and\u00a0Oliver RCMP detachments are going door to door, working with the band to ensure people leave their properties.<\/p>\n

“There have been physical evacuations that are taking place…. [They’re] working very closely with the Osoyoos Indian Band to make sure that we hit those areas that are most vulnerable,” Roberts said.<\/p>\n

Further to the order, several dozen properties in the region \u2014 as well as within the town of Oliver \u2014\u00a0are under evacuation alert\u00a0and are being asked to prepare to leave if an order is issued.<\/p>\n

Evacuees scramble to find accommodation<\/h2>\n

This fire is among the hundreds of wildfires currently burning across B.C., including\u00a0over 100 wildfires concentrated in the Interior.<\/p>\n

Residents under evacuation have been\u00a0scrambling to find safe accommodation \u2014 an increasingly tough task.<\/p>\n

Thompson-Nicola Regional District chair Ken Gillis\u00a0said there were no accommodations left in\u00a0Kamloops, Merritt\u00a0or Salmon Arm.<\/p>\n

“They’re absolutely full,” he said.<\/p>\n

The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen encouraged evacuees to consider making arrangements to stay with family or friends due to the shortage of hotel accommodations.<\/p>\n

The weather is also proving difficult.\u00a0The southern half of the province got no rain over the weekend,\u00a0and conditions remained\u00a0hot and tinder-dry. For some areas,\u00a0it’s been almost five weeks without rain.<\/p>\n

“It’s a record season for heat and [it’s]\u00a0kind of scary looking at the forecast and you don’t see rain in sight,” Chief\u00a0Louie said.<\/p>\n

“Fire season is far from being over.”<\/p>\n

\n

Anyone placed under an evacuation order must leave the area immediately.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Evacuation centres have been set up throughout the province to assist anyone evacuating from a community under threat from a wildfire. To find the centre closest to you, visit the\u00a0Emergency Management B.C.<\/a>\u00a0website.<\/p>\n

Evacuees are encouraged to register online with\u00a0Emergency Support Services<\/a>, whether or not they access services at an evacuation centre.<\/p>\n

CBC<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of properties in the southern tip of\u00a0B.C.’s Okanagan Valley have been ordered to evacuate after a wildfire that sparked Monday afternoon grew quickly within hours<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":82723,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3539],"tags":[6276,7652],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Wildfire-between-Oliver-and-Osoyoos-grows-evacuation-orders-issued-for-hundreds-of-properties-Milenio-Stadium-Canada.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82722"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}