‘It's eerie’: Summerland residents begin returning home as wildfire moves northwest

When Erin Trainer returned to her Summerland home Saturday afternoon, the Bald Range wildfire left its mark on her property in Trout Creek.

Ash was settled on her deck. Burnt tree pieces and pine needles were scattered throughout the yard and a black film coated surfaces.

“It smells like campfire,” said Trainer, a Summerland city councillor and deputy mayor.

“It’s eerie,” Trainer said after she was able to bring her family home after the evacuation order for 400 properties in Trout Creek neighbourhood east of Highway 97 was downgraded to an alert Friday afternoon.

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Trainer and her three children, dog, cat and hamster, were evacuated close to a week ago and had been staying with a friend in Okanagan Falls, just south of Summerland. Her husband, Erick Thompson, the community’s emergency operations centre commander, was working around the clock on the wildfire response.

Trainer was among the first Summerland residents allowed to return home as district officials began a phased approach to lifting evacuation orders.

Her return brought relief, but thick smoke was a stark reminder that Summerland’s wildfire emergency is far from over.

The Bald Range wildfire continues to burn out of control and has increased to 198 square kilometres. More than than 6,000 properties in the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, District of Summerland and Snpink’tn Indian Band remain under evacuation order.