{"id":107497,"date":"2026-08-03T16:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T20:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=107497"},"modified":"2026-08-03T16:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T20:45:11","slug":"the-fire-was-just-raging-evacuee-describes-fleeing-okanagan-wildfires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/03\/the-fire-was-just-raging-evacuee-describes-fleeing-okanagan-wildfires\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;The fire was just raging&#8217; evacuee describes fleeing Okanagan wildfires"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>-CP-Atlyn Becker remembers the hills glowing orange around her on Saturday as her truck edged north to safety from fires burning around British Columbia&#8217;s Okanagan Lake. She and her family are among thousands who fled their homes over the weekend with whatever they could pack, as high winds pushed flames over drought-parched land. She estimates there were about 200 vehicles moving slowly down the road with her. &#8220;You could feel the heat of the fire. You could hear the crackling of the trees. The fire was just raging,&#8221; she said Monday, after safely arriving in Kelowna. Becker said she watched through the window of her truck as firefighters cut apart fallen trees with chainsaws so that people could drive through. &#8220;(Fire) was right down to the road, all the way&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F08%2F03%2Fthe-fire-was-just-raging-evacuee-describes-fleeing-okanagan-wildfires%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>-CP-Atlyn Becker remembers the hills glowing orange around her on Saturday as her truck edged north to safety from fires burning around British Columbia&#8217;s Okanagan Lake. She and her family are among thousands who fled their homes over the weekend with whatever they could pack, as high winds pushed flames over drought-parched land. She estimates there were about 200 vehicles moving slowly down the road with her. &#8220;You could feel the heat of the fire. You could hear the crackling of the trees. The fire was just raging,&#8221; she said Monday, after safely arriving in Kelowna. Becker said she watched through the window of her truck as firefighters cut apart fallen trees with chainsaws so that people could drive through. &#8220;(Fire) was right down to the road, all the way... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F08%2F03%2Fthe-fire-was-just-raging-evacuee-describes-fleeing-okanagan-wildfires%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&#039;The fire was just raging&#039; evacuee describes fleeing Okanagan wildfires - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/03\/the-fire-was-just-raging-evacuee-describes-fleeing-okanagan-wildfires\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&#039;The fire was just raging&#039; evacuee describes fleeing Okanagan wildfires - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-CP-Atlyn Becker remembers the hills glowing orange around her on Saturday as her truck edged north to safety from fires burning around British Columbia&#8217;s Okanagan Lake. She and her family are among thousands who fled their homes over the weekend with whatever they could pack, as high winds pushed flames over drought-parched land. She estimates there were about 200 vehicles moving slowly down the road with her. &#8220;You could feel the heat of the fire. You could hear the crackling of the trees. The fire was just raging,&#8221; she said Monday, after safely arriving in Kelowna. Becker said she watched through the window of her truck as firefighters cut apart fallen trees with chainsaws so that people could drive through. &#8220;(Fire) was right down to the road, all the way\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/03\/the-fire-was-just-raging-evacuee-describes-fleeing-okanagan-wildfires\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-03T20:45:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/03\\\/the-fire-was-just-raging-evacuee-describes-fleeing-okanagan-wildfires\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/03\\\/the-fire-was-just-raging-evacuee-describes-fleeing-okanagan-wildfires\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"&#8216;The fire was just raging&#8217; 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