Bracing for wildfire season, residents of this West Kelowna neighbourhood are asking for more exit routes
CBC
The Central Okanagan municipality should consider creating more routes to escape fire, says Terry Triechel, who has lived in the neighbourhood of Glenrosa in West Kelowna for more than four decades.
Triechel was one of the residents in the neighbourhood to receive evacuation alerts during the wildfire that ravaged the area last summer.
"A secondary route would be good," he told CBC's Joseph Otoo.
"Unfortunately, where we're sitting right now, the only way is up — there's really no place to go unless you've got an off-road vehicle."
More than 400 households along Glenrosa Road were ordered to evacuate on Aug. 15, 2021 due to the Mount Law wildfire, resulting in serious traffic congestion.
Like Triechel, many West Kelowna residents are asking for improved emergency and evacuation routes in areas that have been impacted by wildfire.
Over the past two months, the City of West Kelowna conducted the first phase of public consultation on its transportation master plan, where many local residents said it's time to build a reliable exit route from Glenrosa, a neighbourhood of more than 6,000 people.
Glenrosa Resident Association president Tasha Da Silva says Glenrosa Road is currently the only viable way out for her neighbours to flee to Highway 97.
Da Silva adds that Jackpine Forest Service Road, the only alternative route, isn't ideal for wildfire evacuation.
"[The road] forces you to go up into the forest ... if there's a forest fire, you don't want to go towards it," she told host Chris Walker on CBC's Daybreak South.
"They do try to maintain it, but it's still a very long route when you have as many people as you have to evacuate."
Da Silva says her association has been working with the city to explore options for a second viable fire exit route, including a crossover that connects Glenrosa to Smith Creek and Glen Canyon, but she admits this option is expensive and could take a long time to build.
"It's a $100 million project, so it's not just a city decision," she said.
"There would have to be funding from all levels of government. They are working towards that, but that's a 20-year plan."
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