The KVR Trail remains closed at this hour from the Vancouver Place entrance northward due to ongoing mop-up operations from a noon hour wildfire adjacent to the trail near Munson Mountain.
Watching the scene unfold was Penticton Fire Department fire chief Larry Watkinson, who credited a fast PFD response and the capable assistance of BC Wildfire.
"We got a call for a bush fire on the slopes just below Munson Mountain, just off the KVR Trail," said Watkinson. "Initial units responded with our wildland units, along with command staff.
"On the scene we found a fast-developing bush fire, mostly in the sagebrush, running up the hillside just off the Vancouver Place access point."
Watkinson said the fire was initially called in at 12:26 pm and would ultimately grow to a half hectare in size. But within an hour of the call-in, he added, it was considered "held."
"Less than an hour and the fire is buttoned up. And a big part of that is our coordinated response with BC Wildfire Service and our relationship with the Penticton zone office. Right away we had a helicopter coordinator along with a medium size bucket helicopter. He probably put 20 buckets on that fire."
There's no official word yet on causation of the blaze, though according to Watkinson, "There are a lot of trails in that area, and people recreate. I'm hoping this was accidental, though it does look human-caused based on location and no thunder storms last night or this morning."
But the chief also had props for local residents after one of the driest, hottest springs and summers on record.
"I give credit to the people of Penticton," he said. "They’ve been very disciplined around our recreational areas and have had good situational awareness during our extreme wildfire behavior this year.
"These things (today's wildfire) do happen, but I think our community is very mindful of the impacts of wildfire and have done a really good job this year of being smart in our wild and urban interface areas."
