Residents of the wildfire-stricken Shuswap region will soon learn the fate of their properties affected by a fast-moving blaze just over a week ago. Derek Sutherland, director of the emergency operations centre for the Columbia Shuswap Regional District, says staff will start reaching out to residents today. He told a briefing Sunday that the estimated number of properties destroyed by the Bush Creek East wildfire is unchanged at 131, with another 37 sustaining damage. Sutherland says the regional district is planning to open a resiliency centre in Salmon Arm to support displaced residents.
The Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre says nearly 16-hundred properties remain on evacuation order in West Kelowna, with another 11-hundred on order in rural areas and on Westbank First Nation lands. It says an additional 18-hundred people were allowed to return home over the weekend as evacuation orders in communities around Okanagan Lake are lifted. Interior Health says residents of two more long-term care homes are among those returning “gradually and carefully” after being evacuated on August 18th. The Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre says nearly 16-hundred properties remain on evacuation order in West Kelowna, with another 11-hundred on order in rural areas and on Westbank First Nation lands.
RCMP say they’re investigating a homicide in Surrey. The Mounties say officers received a report yesterday morning from the Surrey Fire Department about the sudden death of a man inside a home. They say police responding to the call found a 57-year-old man dead and arrested a 42-year-old man at the scene. Police say there is no risk to public safety stemming from the case.
Environment Canada heat warnings continue to cover inland sections of the north coast, including Terrace and Kitimat, along with the northeastern corner of BC. The weather office says daytime highs near 30 C are expected to persist until tomorrow near the coast before cooling on Tuesday. The heat is expected to last until tomorrow night in the Peace region, including Fort Nelson, where temperatures are expected to dip on Wednesday. Air quality advisories are meanwhile in effect due to wildfire smoke and haze blanketing much of the south coast and southern Interior, along with parts of northern BC, from the Bulkley Valley to the Peace.
A late-summer heat wave sent daily temperature records tumbling in communities throughout BC over the weekend. Environment Canada figures show records for daytime highs were set yesterday in the Bella Bella, Smithers, Burns Lake, Dease Lake, Fort Nelson, Gibsons, Sechelt, Powell River, Malahat, Port Hardy, Pemberton and Whistler areas. The temperature of 28.3 degrees Celsius in the Dease Lake area of northwestern B-C broke the previous record of 25 degrees set in 1954. The weather station at the Pemberton airport meanwhile recorded a temperature of 35.7, edging out the previous high of 35 set in 1972.