British Columbia's desperate battle against hundreds of wildfires continues on multiple fronts today, but no new evacuation orders have been added overnight to the thousands already in place across the province. Smoke from wildfires fills the air in Kelowna, B.C., Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

By The Canadian Press

WILDFIRES

At least 50 buildings lost to wildfire in West Kelowna, B.C., fire chief confirms

Aug 21, 2023 | 12:07 PM

West Kelowna’s fire chief says at least 50 structures have been lost in the city to the 110-square-kilometre McDougall Creek fire burning on both sides of Lake Okanagan in B.C.

Jason Brolund says the damage assessment is not complete and the status of more structures is likely to be confirmed in the coming days.

But, officials say crews have made good progress over the past few days and there has been no structural losses in the last 24 hours.

Crews have been taking advantage of good weather to go into neighbourhoods and extinguish fires around homes, creating a “guard.”

About a half dozen neighbourhoods in West Kelowna escaped fire damage, including Smith Creek, Tallus Ridge, Shannon Lake, the Lenz Road Trailer Park and Rose Valley.

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The BC Wildfire Service says weather across British Columbia will be impacted by a hurricane in Southern California.

The “apocalyptic devastation” of wildfires in British Columbia and Northwest Territories is a chief concern for the federal government as a cabinet retreat gets underway in Charlottetown, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday morning.

Affordability and the country’s housing crisis are set to headline the three-day retreat but he said the fires are a “pressing concern.”

More than 30,000 people in British Columbia are under evacuation orders as multiple fires threaten communities including the Central Okanagan city of Kelowna.

More than 20,000 people were forced to flee Yellowknife and several other communities near Slave Lake in Northwest Territories last week.

“This is a scary and heartbreaking time for people,” Trudeau said.

He said the cabinet’s incident response group will meet again in Charlottetown on Monday afternoon to discuss ongoing co-ordination of the fire situation.

Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan, who represents a Vancouver riding in the House of Commons, will attend that meeting and the retreat remotely. He is remaining in B.C. to help with the coordinated response to the fires.

More than 1,000 fires are still burning across Canada, and 60 per cent of them are in B.C. and N.W.T.

This has by far been Canada’s worst fire season on record, with more than 5,800 fires burning 141,000 square kilometres, an area greater in size than all of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island put together.

The cabinet retreat comes a few weeks before members of Parliament will return to the House of Commons following their summer break. It has also been less than a month since Trudeau announced a major shuffle of his cabinet.