Top Stories – Sept 7 – Planned Burn

The McDougall Creek wildfire is still very visible when planned burns take place. Most are happening on the west to northwest side of Carrot Mountain as crews work to get rid of fuel and bring the fire to containment lines where they can safely and effectively extinguish the fire’s edge over the coming days. Yesterday there were more than 300 people on it including firefighters, pilots, heavy equipment operators, Hydro workers and RCMP.

Highway 97 north of Summerland will reopen to single-lane-alternating traffic by next weekend. The Ministry of Transportation says geotechnical engineers continue to monitor and assess data from sensors at the August 28th slide site. They show a continuing movement of the slope and there is a further risk of falling rock. Crews are working to build a 150-metre berm between the recently constructed large lock-block wall and the bottom of the slope.

If you haven’t had your home or business tested for Radon gas, the Regional District is offering free test kits. 395 kits are available and priority will be given to workplaces like medical and healthcare professional offices. Interested applicants need to pre-register online by September 30 at rdco.com/radon .

This year marks the 60th anniversary of Okanagan college. It began in Kelowna back in 1963 and has since grown to include campuses in places like Vernon, Penticton, and Salmon Arm. There are about 17,000 students annually, who are enrolled in programs across portfolios including technology, health and social development, trades, business, science and arts.

Later this month, a Zeller’s pop-up location will be opening in the Hudson’s Bay store at Orchard Park Shopping Centre in Kelowna. The company says it should happen by the 22nd. The news release says it was in time for the holiday season, but did not say if it will disappear early next year.

People began the long drive home yesterday after the evacuation order was lifted for Yellowknife, three weeks after a wildfire forced the city’s 20-thousand residents out of their homes. The order for the capital of the Northwest Territories, which also included two nearby First Nations, was downgraded to an evacuation alert.

The whole family can get involved at the annual Kikinee Festival on Saturday at Mission Creek Park. The event to celebrate the land-locked Kokanee salmon will have live entertainment and interpretive displays from 10am to 3pm. And RDCO reminds us that dogs must be leashed and both pets and people should stay well away from the creek shoreline.

Single family home sales in the Central Okanagan fell about 6 percent to 157 units in August compared to a year ago, while the benchmark price remained just over a Million dollars. Condo sales dropped 20 percent to just 100 units as the price remained steady at 525-thousand. Across the board it took about 50 days to sell.

Children in Quebec are becoming living speed cameras as a way to get drivers to slow down in school zones. Police in Montreal are equipping a handful of kids with backpacks that display passing vehicles’ speeds. Efforts to make school zones safer took on renewed urgency last December when a seven-year-old girl who had recently arrived from Ukraine was killed in a hit-and-run on her way to class.

SPORTS

If you go to just one Okanagan Sun football game this year, make sure it’s the one on Saturday against the VI Raiders. It’s the annual Burn Fund game with part proceeds going to the Burn Fund and Local Wildfire Relief Fund.

The NFL regular season begins tonight with just one game. The Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs host the Detroit Lions with the kickoff at 5:20.

The Toronto Blue Jays are off today following their road trip that included Denver and Oakland. Yesterday in the Bay Area, the A’s won 5-2.

The new Professional Women’s Hockey League franchise in Toronto signed Team Canada members Sarah Nurse, Blayre Turnbull and Renata Fast to three-year contracts. The Montreal squad has signed Marie-Philip Poulin, Anne-Renée Desbiens and Laura Stacey so far.