Some Summerland residents return home as evacuation order partly lifts

When Ron Kubek finally drove back up to his Summerland winery, the feeling wasn’t quite relief.

“You drive into town and your stuff’s safe, but then you know that there are people whose lives are completely affected ,” said Kubek, who owns Lightning Rock Winery and got temporary access to his property after nearly a week away. Five people he knows have lost their homes to the Bald Range wildfire.

“It was almost a melancholy feeling,” he said, describing his return to Summerland.

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Kubek was among the first Summerland residents who got access to town.

More residents are now being allowed to return back home, as the first openings appear in an evacuation zone that still covers thousands of properties.

The District of Summerland partially rescinded its evacuation order at noon Friday, downgrading the Trout Creek neighbourhood east of Highway 97 to an evacuation alert.

The initial evacuation, signed by Mayor Doug Holmes in the early hours of Aug. 8, had covered the entire town since it was issued. The change clears about 400 properties to return.

The order stays in place for the rest of Summerland — including Trout Creek west of the highway.

The district says re-entry will happen “in phases, area by area,” and only once the B.C. Wildfire Service and the regional emergency operation centre confirm it is safe, with crews restoring essential services and clearing hazards in each area “rather than reopening the whole community at once.”

The district called Trout Creek east of Highway 97 “the first area to return,” and said more area would follow, while cautioning that the process isn’t on a fixed schedule.

“Because conditions can change quickly, timelines cannot be guaranteed,” it said on its re-entry page .