‘Fire chief’s worst nightmare’: West Kelowna crews rescue residents who ignored evacuation order

West Kelowna fire chief Jason Brolund’s voice conveyed both pride and exhaustion as he described the risks crews took battling the McDougall Creek wildfire Thursday night.

There was also a hint of frustration, as he discussed residents who failed to heed an evacuation order.

“Certainly, we will risk a lot to save a lot,” Brolund said. “There were a number of risks taken to save lives and property last night. But there were also risks taken that didn’t have to be, and that was because people chose not to evacuate.”

The fire chief described one particular case, in a neighbourhood he didn’t identify, in which residents and first responders became trapped by the fire.

“They couldn’t make it out because the fire had burned across and blocked the road that they were travelling on,” he said. “In the neighbourhood that they were in, there was only one way in and one way out.”

While Brolund didn’t get into the specifics of what happened, he said emergency responders, including the RCMP and the BC Wildfire Service, were able to get the trapped residents and crews to safety.

“I’m very glad it turned out the way that it did, but it didn’t have to be that way,” he said, adding that there were “countless” similar rescues playing out around the city overnight.

“We don’t put evacuation alerts on because it makes our job easier or it’s just something that we have to do procedurally,” Brolund said. “We do it because there’s a very real chance that we’ll need you to leave your homes with little to no notice, and last night was a prime example of that.”

Thousands of people have been ordered to flee the encroaching blaze, which is estimated to have grown from 1,100 to 6,800 hectares and jumped over Okanagan Lake overnight. Thousands more are on evacuation alert.

Brolund couldn’t say how many structures had been destroyed overnight, but acknowledged that some had been.

The chief also suggested things could have been a lot worse. A fire hall, a school, a dam and a wastewater treatment plant were all saved from the flames.

“I have such a luxury and pleasure of leading a team of people who, oftentimes, I can’t even hold onto the reins,” Brolund said. “There is no way that I could hold my crews – or any of the firefighters that came to join us – back. They wanted to be in that fight last night.”

He described people being trapped by fire as “a fire chief’s worst nightmare,” and urged people not to be complacent, saying he expected a difficult 24 hours ahead.

“I think today and tonight will be another challenging couple of operational periods, just like the last two were,” Brolund said.