Westside Road about 5k N of Lk Okanagan Resort

[dieselDaryl]

Wind is still gusty (on the east side of the lake & a couple of new hot spots (or fire break??) just came up about a KM north in the last few minutes (that spot on the right is fire, not lights). So it's definitely pushing in a northward direction. If it goes in any direction, hopefully it goes northwest towards the existing burn from the Terrace Mtn fire.

And we can *hear* it from Okanagan Centre. Super eerie.

[Tootsie]

Bad does not come anywhere close to describing what I am seeing out my livingroom window. It is utter devastation and raging. There is no stopping this beast until morning when they can get some tankers on it. I hope they're getting the Mars Bomber ready tonight. They're going to need it.

[JLives]

We have some of the finest crews around working on these fires. But due to the nature of fire you can only do so much. We go through this every year, it's the natural disaster our area gets to deal with. I wish them good conditions tomorrow to really hammer it and I hope tonight's damage is minimal but damn it looks scary out there right now.

[Tootsie]

Could someone give me a crash course on how to post pictures. I have two pictures I'd like to post to show you how fast this fire grew in just over an hour.

[E3V]

Try posting to a site like imgur.com. You just have to click Upload images at the top.

For Castanet, when you create a new message you can see at the bottom (below preview/submit buttons)
says UPLOAD ATTACHMENT. click that and it will give you option to choose files.

[Tootsie]

Just went outside to see what's going on. Major hotspot (big) has broken out north of main fire. Most of the action seems to be heading north. I've been watching this one area south of the main fire area and it doesn't seem to have advanced much. But north is a different story.

[zerograv]

Someone on globals Facebook page is saying they were evacuated from LOR, I'm assuming this information is incorrect seeing as how Denison is only on alert.

[Bpeep]

From where I am it looks much larger than the 4 to 5 hectares I've been hearing from the media.

[vinnied]

30 Hectares and growing

K50391

Date of discovery: 00:00:00 07/19/2015
Suspected Cause: Lightning
Approximate Location: Westside Road
Estimated Size: 30 HA
Fire Status: Fire of Note

[Swoop]

http://www.cordemergency.ca/CM/Page3353 ... ID=5985555

An Evacuation Order is in place for an expanded area affecting approximately 70 homes along Westside Road as result of the flare up tonight of the Shelter Cove wildfire which is estimated at 30-hectares in size.

Residents of properties from 3985 Westside Road north to La Casa Resort (but not including La Casa) and the following roads: Terrace Way, Chalet Crescent, Condo Court, Denison Road, Shelter Cove Road, Central Okanagan Road and Deighton Road are asked to register at the Emergency Support Services Reception Centre located in the Westside Lions Community Hall, 2466 Main Street in West Kelowna. Only those residents within the Evacuation Order area should register for assistance by ESS volunteers with food, lodging and clothing needs. As well, volunteers with the Canadian Animal Disaster Response Team (CDART) are on hand to help evacuees that have animals.

No properties are on an Evacuation Alert. Neither La Casa Resort or Lake Okanagan Resort are affected or under the Evacuation Order or Alert.

Westside Road is closed between Cinnabar Creek and La Casa Resort. For the latest road information please visit the Drive BC website, www.drivebc.ca. People are requested to stay away from the immediate area and RCMP is doing traffic control.

The Emergency Operation Centre has been activated to support crews in the field responding to this incident.

New information will be released to the public through the media and cordemergency.ca as soon as it becomes available.

BC Wildfire Service and Wilson’s Landing Fire Department crews are on the scene fighting this 30-hectare blaze, which was ignited yesterday by lightning and flared up this evening with the very gusty winds.

[trapp]

Castanet reporting error: they are calling it rank four (out of a possible five).

Ranking is 1 to 6. Not 1 to 5. From what i see there could be some areas exceeding rank 5 on this fire since the last official report from Fire Information officer Kelsey Winter when it was still 5 hectares.

http://bcwildfire.ca/FightingWildfire/firerank.htm

[LoneWolf_53]

From where I am it looks much larger than the 4 to 5 hectares I've been hearing from the media.

I just checked and they'd better revise the 30 hectare estimate too because it's far bigger than that now.

[Lazarus]

I find it so ridiculous that they've set up the Evac Center in Westbank for all these people who can't evacuate to the south - so they've got to go all the way to the top of the lake, through Vernon, LC and Kelowna, back across the lake and all the way into downtown Westbank to register. That's probably more driving time than telling someone evacuated from Kelowna to report to Salmon Arm. It's really unfortunate that something couldn't have been set up for these poor people to report to in Vernon or something. Even a satellite location that could then forward it's information to the main location in Westbank. But I suppose since Vernon is North Okanagan rather than Central Okanagan that they've got some bureaucratic reason to shove the evacuees all over the region to get support. I just hope they're all doing as well as they can in the circumstances. Having been part of the Smith Creek evacuation last year I know (as I'm sure many others here do) just how stressful these things can be for those involved.

[Tootsie]

Yes I agree Lonewolf. That fire is nowhere near the size of 30 Kelowna Apple Bowl playing fields. It is massive and really spreading to the north. And has really creeped down to road level. I have the feeling Westside Rd. is going to be closed for a looooong time.

[erazmus]

They are now announcing that the reception enters are closing at 1:30 and re-opening at 8:30. Does that mean they're not expecting more evacuation orders to be announced before morning? That sounds a little optimistic.