PENTICTON — The parking lot of the Penticton Walmart has become an impromptu RV city as thousands of people displaced by the Bald Range wildfire pour into the community.
Official reception centres at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre and other sites filled quickly after the entire District of Summerland and surrounding areas were ordered to evacuate. Many others simply pulled into the big-box store’s sprawling lot, set up generators, and waited.
The scene on the ground is strange.
The population of this Okanagan city, already a mix of tourists, locals, and seasonal workers during Peachfest season, has become even more varied overnight as evacuees from every background arrive with whatever they could load into vehicles or trailers.
One man approached and said he was certain he had lost his home in Summerland. The house was already in escrow after a divorce, with a closing date of August 15 for a prospective buyer.
He sat in his SUV with two dogs while he waited for word on what the fire left behind.
He also noted something repeated by many others: there was no emergency alert on his phone telling him to leave. That absence of a clear direction to evacuate was a common theme among those who fled.
That absence was a common theme among those who fled. Many described the evacuation as largely chaotic and "word-of-mouth," with neighbours knocking on doors after receiving no alert from the provincial government.
The lack of a phone alert for locals was considered particularly ironic to some, given how often the province sends test emergency alerts and extremely loud province-wide Amber Alerts, including one in the midnight hours that woke much of the province only a few weeks ago
Many also complained about the difficulty of registration services and signing up for Emergency Support Services at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre, where frustrations boiled over.
By contrast, the amenities provided by the Walmart, a nearby liquor store, and the surrounding strip mall created a far more copacetic atmosphere in the unregulated and makeshift camp that had formed in the parking lot.
Nearby, a trans-identifying male pushing a woman in a wheelchair made clear he wanted space to smoke crack in an alleyway. In exchange for the space, he handed over a hard iced tea.
Spirits among many of the displaced remain remarkably positive given the circumstances.
On the ground, early assessments indicate most of Summerland proper and the downtown core remains intact.
Structural losses occurred primarily in the rural communities of Faulder and Garnet Valley.
RCMP and the BC Coroners Service are also investigating a possible fatality linked to the fire, which has not yet been fully confirmed.
The Bald Range fire grew with extraordinary speed — from a few hectares late Friday to more than 10,000 hectares by the weekend — prompting a provincial state of emergency and closing sections of Highway 97.
Helicopters airlifted dozens of people out of the most threatened areas.
The provincial government declared a state of emergency only the following afternoon.
One consistent positive note from both evacuees and locals was the performance of Erick Thompson, the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen’s senior manager of communications and engagement.
His hours-long livestream updates for the regional district were widely described as both informative and likeable, with many saying his real-time information provided knowledge and calm for evacuees and the surrounding region.
Structure protection crews and firefighters continue to work the perimeter while residents of Summerland and nearby communities remain under order to stay out.
It remains unclear when evacuated residents will be able to return.
