The urgent threat of the McDougall Creek wildfire ebbed this week in the Kelowna area, allowing fire officials and residents to take stock of what was lost, what was saved and the challenges of getting life back together.
For the Okanagan’s famed wine industry, the wildfires have been another blow to a year that was already challenging. Then add on B.C.’s ban on hotel stays for tourists in the Okanagan, announced last week to ensure hotel rooms were available for evacuees and first responders, and Prodan said the important revenue of wine tours and destination weddings has been shut down during the industry’s biggest month of the year.
, near Neskonlith, B.C., which began Friday when the wind began to howl late in the evening. Three days later, the Allgaiers and their neighbour, James Krebber, were still at it, sleepless and filthy, with hands and cheeks so black they looked like they’ve just climbed out of a coal mine.