Smoke from legal burn prompts West Kelowna fire response

Photo: file photo

West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund says he'll be very happy when open burning bans are in effect all across the province.

Open burning is not allowed within municipal boundaries, but bans on burning outside local jurisdictions doesn't come into effect until tomorrow.

Brolund's comment came as West Kelowna Fire Department crews were summoned to a report of smoke in the far northern reaches of Bear Creek Road about 8:30 Tuesday morning.

"Obviously being concerned about the conditions that we find ourselves in now, we sent a crew to investigate," said Brolund.

"We found smoke in the area, although it was outside of the city boundary. Being the time of year, boundaries mean a little less to us...so we investigated and found it was someone that was doing some open burning.

"That is governed by provincial regulations, and their burning ban comes into effect tomorrow."

Brolund says crews worked with the property owner to ensure the burn was safe and wouldn't spread into the city.

He adds the province is expected to send wildfire crews in ensure the burn is within their regulations.

The provincial burning ban comes as the fire danger rating within the Okanagan and the Kamloops Fire Centre inches higher.

The fire danger rating is listed as high.

After a wet start to summer, temperatures the past 10 days have been at, or above 30 Celsius.

The current forecast calls for temperatures in the mid 30s for much of the rest of the week, and about 30 on the weekend.