244 Homes now confirmed destroyed. The numbers of destruction keep rising however the worst disaster this city has ever seen is now calming. Saturday night firefighters were able to actually fight fire, and not have to fight for their lives. The winds were light and much progress was made. 24,000 residents remain on evacuation while another 15,000 are on alert as a safety precaution. As we have seen all week this fire is unpredictable and can blow up at any time. Kelowna is absolutely stunned by this event. It was one week ago I took the first pictures of this fire south of Peachland. The fire is now burning towards Myra canyon above East Kelowna, at least 25 km North of it's starting point. Firefighters worked hard all week establishing fireguards and perpetually bombed the hills with water and retardant to no avail. The fire stands at over 19.000 hectares covering around 170 square km.

It is not business as usual in this city as all the displaced residents cope with life away from home. Everywhere you look in the city there is evidence of what has happened. Kelowna Apple Bowl has been transformed into a military headquarters with almost 1000 soldiers stationed for fire battle. Fallen ash can be found covering the ground, a haze of smoke lingers in the air, makeshift homes in parking lot's and all local radio, tv and entertainment halted. Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Premier Gordon Campbell will have a ground and air tour of the devastated areas on Sunday. Costs of re-construction will surely range in the tens of millions

Even though this has been a devastating incident and life in Kelowna has been altered forever, nobody was seriously hurt or killed. Homes and property can be rebuilt. It will be tough for many but the city did an excellent job of assessing the danger and making the right moves to get people out in an orderly and timely fashion.

I will post images of the destroyed rural sections of Kelowna and Okanagan Mountain park when the public is able to return to those areas. As it stands right now huge areas of the Mission and East Kelowna are locked out to everyone not involved in firefighting or emergency services. By Saturday night and into Sunday, smoke covered the whole city again and there were no visuals of the fires path. I will update info as it is available and I will have more images as soon as I can.

Thank you to everyone who has sent me comments and support via email. I would like to give my deepest sympathy to all of those directly effected by evacuations and loss of their homes. I have been fortunate not to have been involved in the fires destructive path.