It's one of the prettiest areas along Highway 3. Just a few minutes east of the tiny exit for Nighthawk, Washington, where the road swoops down into a valley of spectacular beauty. The fruit stands of Cawston are way back in the rear view mirror, the wineries have just whizzed past, and now all you see is ranchland. A ribbon of road slicing through some of the best scenery that BC has to offer.
Photo Credit: NowMedia
Photo Credit: NowMedia
PentictonNow arrived on the scene just after 6 p.m. Monday evening, only to find an entire hillside engulfed in smoke. Hot spots were everywhere. Every few minutes, another tree would ignite and burn almost instantly.
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The highway wasn't yet closed, and it remained open even when we departed at 8 p.m.
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We checked in with the Penticton Air Tanker Base as we left town, only to see both Conair Convair Air Tankers sitting on the tarmac. Word from the BC Wildlife Service is that the tandem were called back to their base due to the heavy smoke.
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Meanwhile down at the wildfire, which is burning in a mixture of grassland and sparse forest, there were two helicopters doing what they could.
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Photo Credit: NowMedia
Luckily, two small lakes — Frank and Richter — are within a few hundred meters of the fire. The choppers had a short flight for refills.
Photo Credit: NowMedia
Photo Credit: NowMedia
Up on the hillside, crews were trying their best to slow the progress of what's been dubbed the "Richter Creek Wildfire." But it's a big area. We had to drive a kilometer or more just to get from one edge of it to the other.
Photo Credit: NowMedia
Photo Credit: NowMedia
Photo Credit: NowMedia
And this being ranchland, there were cows up there too. We watched as one smashed through a fence just to escape the heat and the smoke.
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Photo Credit: NowMedia
Photo Credit: NowMedia
It should be too early in the year for this sort of thing. But it isn't, and we hear this particular fire may have been human-caused. And that's troubling.
Photo Credit: NowMedia
Photo Credit: NowMedia
Photo Credit: NowMedia
Photo Credit: NowMedia
