BC wildfires: Number of properties destroyed by Central Okanagan wildfires grows to 189 | FULL

A better sense of the damage wrought by the McDougall Creek wildfire is dawning on officials who found more properties lost in the fire that grew out of control 11 days ago.

Sally Ginter, the Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre director, said Monday that as crews have been able to better access the fire-damaged areas, they've updated the number of partially or completely destroyed properties to 189 from 181. Some of those properties contain more than one home, most notably Lake Okanagan Resort which had 150 units destroyed.

Owners of these properties will be called in the days ahead, Ginter said.

West Kelowna Fire Rescue Chief Jason Brolund said these properties are in the West Kelowna Estates area, properties with access from Bear Creek Main and the neighbourhoods along Westside Road.  The damage in these neighborhoods is extreme and that's why even those who haven't lost their home will not be able to return just yet.

"You or your neighbours in many cases have lost their homes and lost everything," Brolund said, but damage isn't limited to property lines.

"Power poles are burned, the lines are on the ground, the transformers are tipped over. All of that is being removed and it's being rebuilt."

Brolund said there are an abundance of "danger trees," which are trees that can topple with any sort of windstorm.

For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/9923857/okanagan-wildfire-update-august-28-2023/

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