A landscape of charred rocks and burnt trees stretches across a 3.1-hectare area south of Strawberry Creek Road due to a June 30 forest fire. Photo by Paul Everest
OSOYOOS TIMES-July 8, 2009
By Laurena Weninger and Paul Everest – Osoyoos Times
Head south from the Strawberry Creek Road up a steep, dusty trail just out of sight of the Osoyoos Rifle Range and eventually the green and brown landscape of antelope brush and small trees turns into a long stretch of charred rocks, black dirt and skeletal trees bearing a few remaining crumpled leaves.
This was the site of a forest fire which started on the morning of June 30 and ended up burning 3.1 hectares of land in a corridor stretching from a point just south of the Buena Vista Industrial Park to a ridge about half-a-kilometre from the Osoyoos Golf and Country Club.
The fire, which is believed to have been caused by an out-of-control campfire, brought out the Osoyoos Volunteer Fire Department and B.C. Forest Service.
In total, 20 fire suppression personnel, three helicopters and two air tankers all headed to the location, said Risa Loveseth, the fire information officer for the forest service.
“This was reported at 7:40 a.m. on June 30,” she said. “They do believe the cause was a campfire.”
The Osoyoos department attended the fire at 7:25 a.m., said Chief Rick Jones, adding that he reported the fire to the forest service and its crews arrived within 45 minutes.
“It was right on the border (of our coverage area),” Jones said, referring to the point at which the territory is covered by forest service.
But the wind was blowing and Jones said the Osoyoos firefighters acted fast to try to get things under control.
“We thought we would jump on it.”
The department has a four-wheel drive bush truck with a water tank.
Jones and eight firefighters took that, as well as the water tender, up the hill.
“The tender stayed up at the rifle range and the little truck went back and forth.”
Above them, the skies were buzzing as the trio of helicopters repeatedly dipped water from the north end of Osoyoos Lake then took their loads to dump on the fire.
Glen Pegg, who lives in a house beside the rifle range, said it was just chance that his home wasn’t destroyed by the fire.
“Luckily for me, the wind was blowing south,” he said, adding that he was home at the time of the fire.
The area where the fire started neighbours a piece of Crown land where a few dozen French Canadian people who have come to the South Okanagan for agricultural work have set up camp.
Pegg said he saw about 16 people run out of the hills where the fire started after the first wisps of smoke appeared to the south.
“They didn’t even take their tents down,” he said. “They were just trying to get the hell out of there.”
The area is littered with makeshift fire pits made from rocks and Pegg said he believes the workers camping there were responsible for the fire.
One worker living on what is being called “French Hill” said it’s unfair that French-Canadians are being blamed for the blaze without any proof.
A number of people who were passing through the area and were not affiliated with the French-Canadian camps were also staying in the area where the fire broke out, she said.
As of July 2, the fire was considered to be in the “patrol stage,” Loveseth said.
So far this year in the Penticton fire zone, which includes Osoyoos, there have been 38 fires and 23 hectares of land has burned.
Lightning is responsible for starting 16 of those fires, but 22 are person-caused.
Loveseth is urging members of the public to take measures to keep those numbers down.
“Person-caused wildfires divert the resources from naturally caused fires,” she said.
Anyone seeing smoke in the area should call 911, 1-800-663-5555 or *5555 from a cellphone.
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