Top Stories – June 19 – Biggest Ever

The BC Wildfire Service says the Donnie Creek fire has grown into the largest blaze ever recorded in the province. Crews are now focused on protecting infrastructure and the Alaska highway. The fire is burning south of Fort Nelson and is estimated at more than 534,000 hectares in size. By comparison, the Okanagan Mountain Park wildfire in 2003 was just under 26,000 hectares.

An unoccupied house was destroyed by fire in the Pandosy neighborhood early Saturday morning. It happened on McDougall near Pandosy and Lake. The fire is deemed suspicious and will be investigated by the Kelowna Fire Department.

Just like it is doing with Swoop, WestJet is planning to wind down Sunwing Airlines. It will integrate the low-cost carrier into its mainline business within two years as part of a plan to streamline operations. There was no indication that Sunwing Vacations would also shut down, suggesting that WestJet planes could be flying Sunwing tour package customers to sun destinations.

A third person has died after a double homicide on Swan Road in southeast Kelowna on the 8th. Details such as the genders and ages of those who died have not been released and the family has asked the RCMP to hold back that information. Investigators believe this is an isolated incident, there are no outstanding suspects and there is no risk to the public.

All but one of the 18 pipeline workers injured in a bus crash north of Prince George, were released from hospital on the weekend. The company behind the Coastal GasLink pipeline project, says 30 people were on the bus when it crashed while taking employees to a work site.

Authorities in northern Mexico say they have destroyed 14 homemade armoured cars of the kind used by drug cartels to fight land battles. The vehicles are usually adapted from commercial trucks and many had thick steel ramming prows welded to the front. Others had firing ports and gun turrets.

It’s going to be Juneuary on the Connector for the next couple of days. The weather office says it will see wet snow as the snow level drops to about 1500 metres and precipitation will continue through tomorrow morning. Road info at DriveBC.ca or the DriveBC app.

A sexual misconduct allegation has been raised against a Royal Canadian Air Force Snowbirds pilot. The R-C-A-F says it is investigating the allegation and as a result, the aerobatics team will be performing a plane short for the time being. The pilot is based in Moose Jaw.

Many worship services in Dauphin, Manitoba, yesterday were dedicated to the victims of a highway crash that killed 15 community members and left 10 injured. It happened Thursday as 24 seniors from the town and the surrounding area travelled to a casino. Their minibus was almost at its destination when it collided with a transport truck at the intersection of the Trans Canada Highway and Highway 5 near Carberry.

Sports

In Wenatchee on the weekend the Kelowna Falcons won just 1 of 3 games against the Applesox. Bellingham comes across the border to Elks Stadium tomorrow.

The Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal was won by Max Verstappen, who also won it last year. It was the 100th team win for Red Bull.

The Toronto Blue Jays have moved from Arlington, Texas to Miami. They start 3 games against the Marlins this afternoon.

Wyndham Clark was the winner at the U-S Open in Los Angeles. He finished at 10 under par, one shot ahead of Rory McIlroy.