Fire near Desert Cove was not a scheduled burn, says OKIB

Photo: OKIB fire department

Desert Cove residents might have been spooked by the sight of fire and smoke Tuesday night.

The Okanagan Indian Band Fire Department confirmed the fire was not a scheduled burn.

“That was a fire set by a landowner to burn the grass in the field, and it kind of got away on him. So we responded from the fire department and put the rest of the fire out that got away on him,” says Fire Chief David Lawrence.

Fire in this area can be particularly nerve wracking to residents, who endured evacuation and the massive White Rock Lake wildfire on the doorstep two years ago.

Lawrence says the band's forestry department has been speaking with the member about conducting controlled burns to get rid of debris from that fire.

The chief says the burns shouldn’t be conducted when it’s too dry out, something that might be the case right now.

Unrelated slash pile burning was happening in the Six Mile Creek area recently as well, the band says.