Tuesday evening has experienced an onslaught of fires igniting in locations around the Okanagan-Similkameen area. One neighbourhood in Kelowna discovered that one of the stray fires had spawned just beyond their yard boundaries at around 8 p.m.
After hearing a clap of thunder too close to home, a group of Kelowna residents banded together to stop a fire that ignited near their residences in Magic Estates.
"It happened near my parents house, they saw [lightning] and heard a huge crack of thunder, so we're pretty sure it was lightning-caused," explained Samantha Cullen.
"We saw the smoke kind of coming over the trees, so we got in my dad's truck and went over there right away."
The fire had started behind a neighbouring house in a small brush fire that did not produce much flame but caused a haze of smoke, explained Cullen. Neighbours from around the community rushed to extinguish it.
"Everyone was out there with shovels and hoses and one or two fire extinguishers and everyone was helping put it out."
The group fought with the smoke for about 10-15 minutes, said Cullen, at which time the Fire Department showed up. By then, the group had all but suffocated the last bit of smoke emitted from the grass.
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