Update 7:30 p.m.: The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen has issued an evacuation order for all of Olala, BC, along Highway 3A in Electoral Area G, as well as several properties south of the village. All evacuation orders are available on the district’s website.
New evacuation orders have been issued as the Keremeos Creek wildfire continues to grow.
More than 400 properties are now under evacuation orders and hundreds more are under evacuation warnings.
More firefighters have also joined the fray with crews attacking it from both the ground and the air.
When the wildfire was last mapped on Wednesday, it was about 4,250 hectares. It is believed to have spread even further.
The fire came frighteningly close to homes along Highway 3A Wednesday night, but crews were able to contain it from burning any structures.
Last Friday, however, a home burned to the ground.
Les Murza owned that home and returned for the first time Thursday to see the devastation firsthand.
“There is nothing left. I don’t even know what some of these things are,” Murza said as he tried to identify his belongings in the ashes.
He pointed to one object, saying, “My piano strings. I’m sure.”
Les Murzsa returned to his home for the first time on Thursday to see the devastation firsthand.
Murzsa was one of the first to notice smoke, but he didn’t think his home would be in the path of what had become a raging wildfire.
“Then the wind changed and all of a sudden the fire was right across the street and at one point there was a fire tornado and my heart started pounding,” he said, explaining that he had only left about an hour before his house caught fire.
“It was raining ash. The fire seemed to be getting closer.
He had no insurance and lost everything. He puts his losses at about $400,000. An online fundraising campaign has been launched to help him.
Although devastated by the losses, he said he had to put it into perspective.
“At the end of the day, you just lost a bunch of wood and stuff and a sofa, and it’s not that important, but memories that last a lifetime.”
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