Evacuation orders near Osoyoos, B.C. partially rescinded as fire grows away from town
CTV
Hundreds of people who live in and around Osoyoos, B.C., can now return home after favourable winds pushed the Eagle Bluff wildfire west.
Hundreds of people who live in and around Osoyoos, B.C. can now return home after favourable winds pushed the Eagle Bluff wildfire west.
The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen announced on Monday afternoon that 192 properties are now under evacuation order, down from 732.
Over 2,600 properties remain on alert.
Those on alert are urged to “remain vigilant and be prepared in case conditions change,” RDOS Emergency Operations Centre spokesperson Erick Thompson said.
The wildfire has grown to nearly 1,500 hectares on the Canadian side of the border since Sunday, but that growth was mostly on the west flank of the fire, away from the Town of Osoyoos, BC Wildfire Service information officer Shaelee Stearns explained.
Favourable winds “blew the fire back into itself,” over the mountain in the northeast, she said.
“This fire has been going for less than 48 hours, it feels like about two weeks, I’m sure, for everybody who has been working on it, but that’s a pretty amazing feat to have cleared up a lot of what we saw on Saturday night from Osoyoos,” said Mayor Sue McKortoff.
