RDOS and City of Penticton Christie Mountain Wildfire news conference – August 20, 2020

The RDOS, City of Penticton and the BC Wildfire Service news conference August 20, 2020. For citizens who are hearing impaired, a separate version of the news conference will be uploaded with captions to the City’s You Tube account following the news conference.

Posted by City of Penticton – Municipality on Thursday, August 20, 2020

Update 3 p.m. Aug. 20, 2020

Structural protection efforts are getting underway to protect homes and infrastructure in the southeast end of Penticton in anticipation of forecasted winds which could potentially escalate the Christie Mountain wildfire Thursday night.

Officials held a press conference Thursday with representatives from the regional district, the City of Penticton and BC Wildfire including Mitch Pence, incident commander with BC Wildfire who had just arrived Thursday afternoon with the incident management team.

“If we get some strong winds, then our lines will be challenged, for sure,” said Pence of the fire still estimated at 2,000 hectares — 20 square kilometres.

Some forecasts call for 20 to 40 km/h winds, with gusts up to 70 km/h which could compound difficulties for firefighters in the steep terrain. The fire grew mostly in the Skaha Bluffs rock climbing area overnight, according to Nicole Bonnet, BC Wildfire information officer.

Penticton Mayor John Vassilaki urged the over 3,000 residents on evacuation alert to register online for social services or call 250-490-2345 to contact the Emergency Operations Centre on Ellis St. which will ease the process should a large influx of evacuees happen quickly.

“As early as this afternoon residents in the alert area may see City as well as other fire crews beginning structural protection efforts that could be setting up equipment, that could be gathering information, that could be talking to residents and neighbours to prepare for structural protection efforts,” said Donny Van Dyk, City of Penticton CAO.

The Christie Mountain wildfire burning south of Penticton has grown to 2,000 hectares, or 20 square kilometres, as the specialized incident management is arriving to take over operations.

Forecasted winds of up to 20 to 40 km/h and gusting up to 70 km/h out of the south “may pose a challenge this afternoon,” according to the update from BC Wildfire around 11:30 a.m. Thursday.

A total of 84 firefighters are working on site today with the Penticton Fire Department and structure protection personnel, as 20 additional firefighters are en route and will arrive Thursday afternoon.

Ground personnel will be supported by 10 helicopters and four water tenders throughout the day today.

“The fire was fairly quiet overnight and mostly burning rank 1 (smouldering ground fire). Overnight crews made good progress protecting values in the area,” states BC Wildfire.

Today, crews are looking to find safe access to the north end of the fire if visibility improves.

“They made great progress yesterday and continued work on the southwest flank of the fire building and strengthening control lines for values protection and in some cases using small scale hand ignitions to remove pockets of unburnt fuel.”

The Type 1 Incident Management Team made up of firefighters and specialists from across the province has arrived in Penticton and will be transitioning into place by end of day Thursday.

BC Wildfire and the City of Penticton, along with the regional district are hosting a press conference in Penticton at 1 p.m.