By Pete McIntyre

Occupant lost everything

Fire destroys homeless camp

Apr 23, 2020 | 12:25 PM

A homeless camp was destroyed in a fire this morning between Highway 97 and Swan Lake, north of Vernon.

It broke out at 5:40 a.m. in the 6800 block of Highway 97 north where one woman was living.

“She had started a one-burner stove and the wind blew a tent flap onto the burner,” said BX-Swan Lake Fire Chief Bill Wacey.

Wacey said the fire quickly ignited the tent, a canopy and all of the woman’s belongings.

It also got into some nearby brush before crews doused it.

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The fire chief said the woman suffered a small burn to her leg.

“She was very distraught. She lost everything,” Wacey told Vernon Matters.

The BX Fire Department was also called to a two-vehicle crash at Stickle Road and Pleasant Valley Road Wednesday afternoon.

Wacey said one car went through a stop sign and hit another car travelling north on Pleasant Valley Road.

He said there were no injuries, but the car that didn’t stop sustained major damage and rode onto the hood of the other vehicle.

by Pete McIntyre

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