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Sunday evening, some residents of the upscale Skaha Hills development at the southwest corner of Penticton were already self-evacuating.
They'd watched as the Skaha Creek wildfire crested the ridge above the development during dinner hour and then begun its descent down the mountain. Though the blaze was still some distance away, they'd seen enough. For them, it was time to go.
And now, it’s one more step to becoming official. The Penticton Indian Band council this afternoon authorized an evacuation alert for properties not only in Skaha Hills, but also the adjacent Riva Ridge manufactured home community, Holiday Hills RV Resort, and the PIB Lower Village south of Shingle Creek.
Beyond the alert, which is different from a "notice" in that it's intended only to prepare residents for the potential of evacuation rather than mandate them to immediately do so, the City of Penticton has also now activated its Emergency Operations Centre.
For more information on both developments, turn to our continually updated story here.
On the mountain itself, Day 3 of the blaze, first spotted and identified Saturday afternoon, played out much differently than Day 2.
Whereas Sunday morning the fire was barely visible from any vantage point in town and air tankers and their orange retardant didn’t even make an appearance 'til the afternoon, Monday was fierce from the get-go.
The flames were widespread at first light and a bevy of tankers were on the job early, trying their best to cut off any path down the mountain.
As afternoon came on, the tankers gave way to skimmers and helicopters. Needless to say, the skies surrounding the mountain were once again crazy busy.
On the ground, 13 more personnel arrived today to add to the 40 already on site. An Incident Management Team has now been set up, and eight pieces of heavy equipment are on the job.
Still classified as "out of control," the Skaha Lake wildfire is currently estimated to be 212 hectares. That's more than double its Sunday night size. And it is now officially one of 16 "Wildfires of Note" within the province.
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