The White Rock Lake fire was a wildfire in Thompson-Nicola Regional District, British Columbia. Caused by lightning in an extreme drought year, the fire began July 13, 2021. Left unprioritized by the wildfire service for several days it spread to a total of 83,047 hectares and resulted in the destruction over 800 homes. The town of Monte Lake was also destroyed. The BC Wildfire Service claimed it attended the fire immediately, but a later investigations proved this to be untrue.
By August 5, two weeks after the fire started, it covered an area of 32,500 hectares between Kamloops and Vernon, and the town of Monte Lake was evacuated. The fire resulted in the destruction of at least 28 residences and one business there. By August 6 the When the fire had reached 55,000 hectares bu August 6, evacuation alerts were issued for the cities of Vernon and Armstrong, as well as the village of Chase.
By September 12 the fire covered 833 square kilometres. Thousands of residents were evacuated and over 2,000 properties were under an evacuation order. The fire damaged approximately 70 properties in the Ewings Landing and Killiney areas along the westside of Okanagan Lake. The Okanagan Indian Band also reported 10 homes and one business destroyed.
On August 14 Monte Lake residents were permitted to return to the community. Kamloops-South Thompson MLA Todd Stone called for a public enquiry into the provincial response, charging policy “is what causes these fires to get out of control”. Residents who refused to leave a B.C. wildfire evacuation area fired back at provincial officials, who they said didn’t do enough to protect their properties.
The massive fire between Kamloops and Okanagan Lake, destroyed multiple buildings and forced a series of evacuation orders and alerts in less than 72 hours. Residents who didn’t leave the area to protect their homes themselves were later chastised by Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth who claimed their actions hat put first responder’s lives at risk.
While their own homes and cars had burned into rubble, those who defied the evacuation fought for their community’s survival. They resisted to be discouraged by the statements of a politician who seemed completely out of touch with what went on in the fire zone.
The BC Wildfire Service insisted it responded seriously to the fire from the start with crews and helicopters. According to the services spokes person, the fire was already very lage upon detection and it burned aggressively in difficult terrain.
Contrary to earlier statements, the BC Wildfire Service said on July 14, the fire was 300 hectares in size and was being actioned by a crew of six (6) firefighters and a (1) helicopter.
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