The Christie Mountain fire in Pentiction has grown to an estimated 2,000 hectares today (Aug 20) according to the BC Wildfire Service.
Originally discovered on August 18, the BCWS has deployed 84 firefighters and ten helicopters, with another 20 personnel en route to the blaze.
As the fire continues to burn, many residents are under evacuation orders and there are thousands more on high alert.
“The sky is very hazy, and there are water bombers and helicopters flying overhead constantly,” says Pentiction resident Angus Bartier.
“There are quite a lot of sirens too. There’s definitely just a general feeling of uneasiness.”
Bartier, located near Penticton’s downtown, is not directly in the evacuation area, but says ‘you can still see the smoke.’
He says people have been installing sprinklers on the roof of their homes and lawns just in case the fire moves closer to town or the wind changes.
“Earlier, you could see the fire actually moving towards town. There are lots of sirens, lots of water bombers and helicopters. A few people have said they have actually seen ash falling onto their lawns,” Bartier said.
“It (the smell) is not as strong as you might think, but there is just kind of a lingering scent of smoke. Just enough so that you notice it,” he explained.
PHOTOS: #Penticton residents submitted their pictures of the #ChristieMountainFire. Locals are reporting heavy smoke in the air during the day, and say the fire has been spreading noticeably. #BCFires pic.twitter.com/HrjlDQ3z2X
— Catherine Garrett (@cath_garrett) August 20, 2020
Another Pentiction local is located just two blocks from the evacuation zone cut off.
He says the city is covered in a thick haze, and the air smells faintly of smoke.
“It almost just looks like a very overcast, dark, cloudy day at the moment. Just because the coverage is so heavy,” explained Jesse Day, a reporter at Penticton Western News.
“If you were to maybe go down further towards Skaha Lake, it starts to get even more dense and noticeable,” he adds.
Day agrees that the general feeling in the area is one of anxiety, but there is also a portion of the population that isn’t grasping the severity of the situation in his opinion.
“The people who are under the warnings are obviously very scared, they are worried for their homes. We just recently had the first home lost in Heritage Hills,” says Day. “I know a lot of people didn’t go to work today, just stayed home with all their stuff packed and ready to go.”
“It’s a weird mix too. It seems like there are also a lot of people who don’t really fully grasp the seriousness of it. They are going on about their vacations and daily lives.”
The BCWS says they have made ‘great progress’ dealing with the fire overnight, but the main hurdle today (Aug 20) will be wind.
“The fire is burning in difficult rocky sloped terrain with limited access points for ground crews and heavy equipment. Crews and resources were challenged by the steep terrain as well as visibility yesterday.
Poor visibility limited the use of fixed-wing aircraft to the sections of the fire with better visibility,” the report reads.
“Forecasted winds may pose a challenge this afternoon. They are expected to be 20-40 kilometers per hour and gusting up to 70 kilometers per hour out of the south.”
View the full fire report here:
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