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EDITORIAL: The risk of wildfires

Communities have been evacuated because of the danger from wildfires
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After a wet spring and flooding along the lakeshore, the region, along with the rest of the province, is dealing with dry conditions and an extreme forest fire risk.

The extreme conditions are something few would have predicted a month or two ago, as residents living close to Okanagan Lake were coping with some of the worst lake flooding on record.

Fires are burning near Princeton and farther north. Communities have been evacuated because of the danger from wildfires.

At present, a province-wide state of emergency has been declared as more than 200 wildfires are burning throughout British Columbia.

The last time such a state of emergency was in 2003, during another serious wildfire season.

While there have not been significant wildfires in or near Summerland, the smoke from fires elsewhere in the province is affecting the area.

In past years, Summerland has had wildfires in and near the community.

The most noticeable was the Giant’s Head Mountain fire in August, 1996. That fire, which reached a size of 60 hectares, came within 15 metres of some of the homes on Milne Road.

Much more recently, firefighters have had to cope with smaller wildfires in the community, including some which have come close to homes in the Canyonview Road area and near Logie Road.

None of these have been as large as the massive fires now burning in other parts of the province, but they should remind us that the risk of wildfires is present here.

This is a time to use extreme caution, especially for those using the back country.

A careless mistake during these dry conditions could result in widespread devastation.