A majority of residents in the Heritage Hills area are returning to their homes Tuesday afternoon.
Over two thirds of residents from the 319 homes under evacuation order since last week are safe to re-enter as of Tuesday.
There are still 74 homes at the upper area of Heritage Hills that remain under evacuation order as geotechnical and safety assessments are completed to ensure safe re-entry. An interactive map is available online for residents to check where there home lies in the evacuation boundary, or residents can call the emergency operations centre: 250-490-4225
“Once you have determined that your property is not in the evacuation order zone, you can head home,” said Karla Kozakevich, RDOS board chair, at Tuesday’s press conference in Penticton.
“To the citizens of Heritage Hills, their patience has been enormous during these challenging times, so thank you to everyone in Heritage Hills and I know you’re eager to get home today to those that can get back,” Kozakevich said.
The regional district has planned a phased approach re-entry to get residents back to their homes safely without crowding the area.
There was no immediate threat to any homes Tuesday due to good progress from local and provincial firefighters following a harrowing week for the southeast end of Penticton, which saw first responders preparing for a worst-case scenario.
The evacuation alert for 116 homes in the Upper Carmi was lifted Tuesday as well.
The still-active Christie Mountain wildfire was burning roughly 2,350 hectares as of Tuesday according to BC Wildfire. Weather was a major factor in getting a handle on the fire, which is expected to be contained in the coming days.
However, areas of the fire are expected to continue smouldering for “quite some time,” according to Dennis Rexin, deputy incident commander for the Christie Mountain wildfire with BC Wildfire.
“I expect containment to be accomplished in the very near future,” Rexin said at Tuesday’s press conference in Penticton.
Helicopters continue bucketing operations and BC Wildfire will continue drawing water from the east side of Skaha Lake “for the foreseeable future,” Rexin said — suggesting boaters and other recreation on the lake should steer clear of the area.
On Monday, the the City of Penticton announced the evacuation alert issued for all 3,669 properties on the southeast end of the city issued five days prior was lifted.
Penticton Mayor John Vassilaki — who himself was under evacuation alert until Monday morning — said he was proud of the efforts of everyone in the city and across the province, from volunteers to firefighters to the media.
“While this last week was full of worry, today I’m full of immense pride,” Vassilaki said Monday, thanking BC Wildfire, local and provincial firefighters, Emergency Support Services volunteers, Search and Rescue volunteers, city officials and everyone who played a role during the height of the emergency.
Hundreds of firefighters who showed up from across the province to hold the line late last week returned to their home communities Saturday. Tensions cooled with the weather as the week progressed. Gusting winds over 50 km/h did not increase fire activity towards the city boundaries on Aug. 21 as initially feared.
Structural protection crews were in the evacuation alert area preparing homes and critical infrastructure for a worst-case scenario late last week, using “wetlines” and an elaborate sprinkler system to keep burning embers from blowing into residential neighbourhoods. One single home was lost in the Heritage Hills area.
