Wildfires in Summerland Bring Fear and Kindness

The wildfires quickly expanded down to Okanagan Lake

On Friday a wildfire ignited near Summerland, a mostly agricultural area in the Okanagan in southeast British Columbia, which resulted in 20,000 residents evacuating, some with only minutes' notice.

The wildfire, known as the Bald Ridge fire, started 15km northwest of Summerland and grew to 50 square kilometres within three hours. Today it has expanded to over 156 square kilometres.

British Columbia Premier David Eby declared a state of provincial emergency on Saturday, advising those under an evacuation orders should leave immediately.

Air quality has worsened due to severe smoke

"Explosive" is how Cliff Chapman of the BC Wildfire Service described the situation on Saturday.

"When we see a fire start, when we see the smoke lift, we are going to be challenged and we may see fires do what we saw on this fire last night," he said at the time.

"I cannot stress enough that the conditions we are facing right now are conditions that we have never seen before."

The drought-like conditions this year have resulted in trees catching fire very easily, and strong winds have made it worse. In this case the winds blew the fire down the valley towards Summerland.

There are harrowing stories of escaping: a family was celebrating their little girl's birthday when large chunks of ash began falling down on them. They grabbed photos off the walls and important documents and then fled to Penticton, about 35km south of Summerland.

A farmer evacuated his goats in the middle of the night, while a journalist who literally just moved to Summerland had to flee with her husband and described the experience as surreal.

Many farmers evacuated with animals like goats

Temporary foreign workers from Mexico who are in Summerland to pick fruit had to be airlifted to safety by helicopter, as the road they were on was blocked by fallen trees. 

But at the same time there are many recounting the kindness of strangers, taking evacuees in, taking farm animals or dogs and cats, as their owners cannot keep them in hotel rooms or elsewhere. 

There is also a story of Patricia Robinson, a 90-year-old woman who was trying to fly from Calgary to Kelowna to celebrate her birthday with family. However, the dense smoke forced Kelowna Airport to cancel 40 flights including hers and the plane turned back to Calgary.

However, two men on the same flight offered to drive Robinson there as they too wanted to get to Kelowna, and the trio made the seven-hour drive and had fun along the way too.

"I don't know how my family felt with me embarking on this journey with two strangers, but I just had a really good feeling about the both of them," she said.

"They were just very chivalrous, gallant, young me... my instincts and trusting these two young men were bang on."

It also turns out one of the men had the same birthday as Robinson -- and exactly half her age.

What a birthday to remember!