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“It’s super scary stuff,”: Former PG resident and his family evacuated from West Kelowna due to surging wildfires

A former Prince George resident, who now lives in West Kelowna says the aggressive wildfires in the city are pretty scary stuff.

Norm Coyne, his 13-year-old daughter, and his wife Candice (who is also from Prince George) evacuated their home yesterday (Thursday) afternoon and are now staying with family in nearby Penticton.

Photo credit: Justin Madu

In an interview with MyPGNow.com, Coyne said the whole situation developed very quickly.

“The smoke started to come over the hill where we are – we live in an area called West Harbour and then with the smoke, you could actually see the fire burn kind of stronger. For us, we have a 13-year-old daughter and we didn’t want to take any chances or anything like that so we packed up and headed out and as we did, the flames were starting to crest the hill.”

He added one of their closest friends just lost their home due to the wildfires.

Last night, two new fires started as sparks and embers from the McDougall Creek wildfire jumped Okanagan Lake.

West Kelowna is under a state of emergency with 24 hundred properties under evacuation order and thousands more told to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.

Wildfires raging in West Kelowna. Photo credit Benjamin Whiteside.

Coyne referenced the 2017 wildfire season where PG welcomed over 10-thousand evacuees from the Cariboo and other areas – the only difference between that and this year was the fires were right on their doorstep.

“At that point when the wildfires happened, and Prince George was seeing a lot of evacuees, we were kind of on the other side of it. The fire wasn’t threatening our home and it’s a lot different when it’s staring you in the face.”

“It’s super scary stuff man. Now there are thousands of people that have been evacuated and it jumped the lake last night. We are in West Kelowna and now it is in Clifton – yeah it’s hardcore.”

The McDougall Creek wildfire, which is approximately 10 km northwest of West Kelowna is an estimated 68 hundred hectares in size and is a wildfire of note.

Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].

Brendan Pawliw
Brendan Pawliw
Since moving to Prince George in 2015, Brendan has covered local sports including the WHL’s Prince George Cougars, Prince George Spruce Kings, UNBC Timberwolves, Cariboo Cougars AAA, and Northern Capitals U18 female hockey teams. Career highlights include play-by-play during the Spruce Kings' BCHL championship runs in 2018 and 2019, including the Doyle Cup win. He also covered the 2019 National Junior A Championship, the 2017 Telus Cup, the 2022 World Women’s Curling Championship, and the 2022 BC Summer Games. Brendan is the news voice on 94.3 The Goat and Country 97 FM, reporting on crime, real estate, labour, and environmental issues. Outside of work, he officiates box lacrosse and fastball, sits on the Prince George Sports Hall of Fame board, and co-hosts the Hockey North podcast.

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