Raging Summerland, B.C., wildfire has ‘essentially separated’ riding: local MP Albas
A British Columbia Member of Parliament says his riding has been severed by an out-of-control wildfire, which prompted thousands of residents to evacuate and killed one person last weekend.
“It is complicated by the fire cutting off our only road,” Conservative MP Dan Albas (Okanagan Lake West—South Kelowna, B.C.) told The Hill Times on Aug. 11.
“It has essentially separated the riding.”
The Bald Range wildfire, on the west side of Okanagan Lake, was discovered Aug. 7, and by the next day the B.C. government had declared a province-wide state of emergency.
Albas spoke to The Hill Times from Peachland—cut off by the fire from Summerland and Penticton—where most evacuees are seeking shelter.
“I’ve just been working as hard as I can to support people” by magnifying public information on social media channels, connecting people with services, and advocating for those who don’t know where to turn, said Albas, who was first elected in 2011.
Evacuation orders were issued for Summerland, home to about 12,000, in the early hours of Aug. 8. The fire burned through 50 square kilometres within its first initial hours, and had nearly tripled in size by Aug. 9, provincial officials said.
Albas said that, since then, some people have slept in their cars and struggled to find help, get cell service, or reconnect with family.
In particular, one seniors’ home in Summerland was evacuated, and “many of their loved ones didn’t know where they were,” Albas said. “There are hundreds of stories of these types of things.”
In the case of an 80-year-old woman who died on Aug. 8 while fleeing the fire, Albas said he helped her widower get connected to emergency services.
“The woman’s husband was one of those persons without emergency support services,” Albas said. “He was basically waiting at the Convention Centre in Penticton, and could not get help.”
Officials from B.C.’s Wildfire Service described a scenario of “explosive fire growth” on all four major fires burning in the province in an Aug. 11 update, and warned that dry lightning in the central Interior and Okanagan region could spark new fires.
As of midday Aug. 11, the Bald Range wildfire on the west side of the Okanagan Lake in Summerland had grown to over 17,000 hectares, or 170 square kilometres.
Across the province, there are 102 active wildfires, according to the province’s dashboard, with five new fires starting in the past 24 hours. Of those fires, 46 per cent, or 47 wildfires, are deemed “out of control” while 26 per cent are classified as “being held.”
Aside from Bald Range, the province is monitoring three other “wildfires of note”: Ainslie Creek and Brunswick Creek, southwest of Kamloops; and Pear Lake northwest of Kamloops. All four are classified as out of control, with Ainslie Creek burning more than 51,000 hectares, Brunswick Creek at just over 8,000 hectares and Pear Lake burning nearly 150,000 hectares
“Elevated temperatures and heightened wind gusts will continue to linger in the Okanagan and southeastern regions of B.C., which can increase fire behaviour,” the province’s Aug. 10 bulletin reads.
Dozens of communities are under evacuation warnings, with officials urging residents to be prepared to leave their homes in case of fire. That includes communities in Conservative MP Helena Konanz’s Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay riding.
“We’re all ready with our to-go bags, just in case,” she told The Hill Times. But in the meantime, her community is opening their arms to support those displaced by wildfires.
She described neighbouring Summerland in Albas’ riding as “very much our sister city” to Penticton, which typically has a population of approximately 40,000, where many of the 21,000 evacuees are now seeking shelter.
“One thing I’m really happy to say is that Penticton has opened their arms, and everyone is doing everything they can right now to help our neighbours,” Konanz said. The region is a popular tourist destination, home to orchards and vineyards, but is now playing host to nearby friends and family, she said.
“Lots of spare bedrooms are being filled,” she said, and food trucks and hot-dog stands are co-ordinating to feed the crowds.
“It’s a real community effort here,” she said. “We’re seeing all levels of government working together.”
Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski (Edmonton Centre, Alta.) said on Aug. 9 that she has approved a request for federal assistance from the province, “to provide shelter and accommodations for people who have been forced to leave their homes due to wildfires across the province, especially those in the region around Summerland and Peachland.”
“As a result, I have tasked federal officials, led by the Government Operations Centre at Public Safety Canada, to work with the province to ensure support reaches those who need it most,” she said on social media.
Defence Minister David McGuinty (Ottawa South, Ont.) said at an unrelated event in Ottawa on Aug. 10 that while the B.C. government had not formally asked for military help, the Canadian Armed Forces were in "direct, constant contact" with the province and with Ottawa, and that situation was being assessed "hour by hour."
Liberal MP Stephen Fuhr said there’s “a fair amount of chaos” in his Kelowna riding, with wildfire smoke causing low visibility and poor air quality, road closures, and flight cancellations.
“There’s thousands of people that have been displaced from their homes,” he told The Hill Times on Aug. 10, just shortly after provincial officials announced a new fire on the east side of Okanagan Lake, in addition to three large fires that have been burning on the west side of the lake.
“If you’re on an evacuation order, you have to leave,” said Fuhr, who is secretary of state for defence procurement. “If you’re on alert, you have to be prepared to leave.”
Federal support and assistance could see federal lands or buildings used to house both evacuees and firefighters, some of whom have come from other countries, he suggested.
Fuhr’s home burned down during a 2023 wildfire, and he said that experience left him with “a pretty good understanding of how things go here.”
“The good news is, there's very good communication,” he said. “There's good resources giving people directions and up-to-the-minute instructions on what to do and where to go.”
The Hill Times