A hard-hitting response from local fire departments and BC Wildfire – along with a fortunate break in the temperatures and the heavy winds of late – spelled a quick end to a fast-moving wildfire Thursday morning in a residential area of the West Bench neighbourhood just north of Penticton.
The fire sparked shortly after 9 AM in an area of long, dry grass in the 1000 block of West Bench Drive, just north of the intersection with Bartlett Drive.
It was a particularly dangerous situation given that the fire began at the base of a steep slope. Directly above and only a few meters away were numerous homes.
Neighbourhood resident Taylor, who lives directly across Bartlett Drive from the blaze, said she called it in at 9:15.
"I was just letting my dog out this morning and I saw some smoke," she told PentictonNow. "It was just a bit of smoke, but it quickly turned into pretty big flames, so I called."
Just 20 minutes later, numerous firefighting agencies were on site and the fire was already under some degree of control.
"It definitely was scary," said Taylor, "but I want to thank everyone for the fast action. All of them are amazing."
According to Penticton Fire Dept. Fire Chief Mike Larsson, the blaze was triggered by lawn mowing equipment.
"From our understanding and our early investigations, they were mowing the grass down below," he said. "Sparks lit a fire and with the winds that were in the area, the fire moved really quickly.
"It moved over one property and then moved up the hill toward the houses. Crews got on the scene just in time to stop it from entering one of those houses. It was about five feet short.
"So, just great efforts from all the crews. By our crew and by PIB Fire and Forestry was on the scene too. We had helicopters (two in all) from Forestry here in about 20 minutes."
Larsson added that the outcome could have been much different, even with the efficient response, had Thursday morning conditions been similar to that of prior days.
"It absolutely could have been worse," he said. "The fact that it's morning and in the low 20s and we didn’t have the 57k winds we had yesterday all worked in our favour. It was just good news all around."
