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West Kelowna

Westside wildfire threat ends

by Grant Scott - Story: 79033
Aug 13, 2012 / 7:26 am

Update: Fire crews have worked through the night to bring a fire above Bear Creek Road under control.

"It was mapped out at roughly 0.4 of a hectare. We had crews there last night until about 10 o'clock and then we were doing patrols every couple of hours," says West Kelowna Assistant Fire Chief Kerry Klonteig.

"Currently, we're still doing patrols like that and we'll be checking on it all day. We basically have it contained. We still have hose lines around the perimeter of the fire, just for safety and in case we have to put out some hot spots."

RCMP Cst. Kris Clark says the investigation into the cause of the fire is underway and there is evidence to suggest that it may have been set deliberately.

The smoke became visible around 2:30 Sunday afternoon and both the West Kelowna Fire Department and the Ministry of Forests are on the scene.

Around an hour after it started, fire crews began to get the upper hand.

"We've finished air tanker action," says Fire Information Officer Kevin Skrepnek.

"We had two air tankers, based out of Kamloops, as well as the 'bird-dog' aircraft were out there. We've got a total of seven personnel on the ground. One helicopter is bucketing it from the air."

The RCMP closed Bear Creek Road at Parkinson Road while crews battled the flames.