By Kiss FM News

Adventure Bay fire fully contained, no structures damaged

Jul 30, 2016 | 11:34 PM

VERNON, B.C. — Fire Chief Keith Green says the evacuation order has been rescinded in the Adventure Bay area. 

“All roads are all open and displaced residents being advised they can return home,” Green said. “No structures were affected. We have the fire contained but are still mopping up. We are working with Ministry of Forests to possibly get a few bucket drops to help with mop up as the terrain is very very difficult to access.”

EARLIER:

A wildfire near Adventure Bay in Vernon’s Okanagan Landing led to evacuations, and a full-out fire fighting effort.

The blaze started just after 9 pm on a hillside, east of the residential area.

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It was burning aggressively at first (rank 3), which led to police going door to door of homes closest to the fire and ordering about 60 people to evacuate.

Fire Chief Keith Green had some good news around 12:30 this morning, saying local and provincial crews were making some headway.

“The behavior has slowed down a bit, and we’re hoping the winds stay calm. It’s certainly not behaving the way it was a couple of hours ago when it took off on us,” Green told Kiss FM which had live coverage of the fire.

At last report, it was burning 1.5 kilometres from the nearest structures, with crews working overnight.

“The best we can hope for at this point is to contain the flanks and make sure it doesn’t get any bigger. We will have to evaluate at first light whether we will have to bring in some air support or if we can do it by hand, but its rough stuff in there,” says Green.

Air crews may be brought in for control this morning.

No word yet on the cause, but there were reports on lightning in that area earlier Saturday.

A reception centre was set up at the Vernon Rec Centre to help the evacuees, one of which was Vernon city councillor Dalvir Nahal.

“We smelled smoke, went for a walk and saw a red flash up the hill,” Nahal told the Morning Star.

Councillor Brian Quiring watched the blaze from his home across Okanagan Lake.

“It’s a huge fire. Its certainly the biggest fire I have seen around the Vernon area,” said Quiring.