Summerland Fruit Growers Face Mounting Losses as Wildfire's Toll Grows
Growers say burned storage, spoiled fruit and blocked access could deepen losses as evacuation orders keep them from checking damaged properties.
- On Friday, cherry orchard owner Claire Tamang fled her Meadow Valley property near Summerland as the Bald Range fire closed escape routes, trapping her husband and 40 temporary workers from Mexico on the other side.
- Ron Kubek, owner of Summerland's Lightning Rock Winery, fled his business at 3 a.m. that same night, as smoke and rot threaten crops across the region's vineyards and orchards.
- Emergency Management Minister Kelly Greene acknowledged on Wednesday that re-entry is difficult, yet officials have denied permit requests from growers seeking to check properties in evacuation zones.
- Adrian Arts, executive director of the B.C. Fruit Growers' Association, warned that hundreds of bins of peaches are spoiling on trees, stating, "Past a certain point, the fruit cannot be saved."
- Facing dwindling compensation through agri-stability programs and repeated crises, farmers are assessing losses and anticipating the need to replant destroyed orchards next year.
53 Articles
53 Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
Migrant workers left with uncertain future amid B.C. wildfire evacuations
Migrant workers who are key to British Columbia's orchards, farms and ranches have been left with an uncertain future after a wildfire swept through the Okanagan near Summerland, forcing them to evacuate without knowing when they'll be able to return.
Summerland fruit growers face mounting losses as wildfire's toll grows - Creston Valley Advance
When Claire Tamang was forced to flee her cherry orchard in Meadow Valley near Summerland last Friday with her 10-day-old baby, she had just enough warning to squeeze through the only exit just before the fire closed off her escape route. “The flames were on both sides, and we were driving through the smoke and just hoping that that was still the right choice,” she told Black Press Media. But her husband and 40 temporary foreign workers from Mex…
Summerland fruit growers face mounting losses as wildfire's toll grows - Fort St. James Caledonia Courier
When Claire Tamang was forced to flee her cherry orchard in Meadow Valley near Summerland last Friday with her 10-day-old baby, she had just enough warning to squeeze through the only exit just before the fire closed off her escape route. “The flames were on both sides, and we were driving through the smoke and just hoping that that was still the right choice,” she told Black Press Media. But her husband and 40 temporary foreign workers from Mex…
Summerland fruit growers face mounting losses as wildfire's toll grows - Grand Forks Gazette
When Claire Tamang was forced to flee her cherry orchard in Meadow Valley near Summerland last Friday with her 10-day-old baby, she had just enough warning to squeeze through the only exit just before the fire closed off her escape route. “The flames were on both sides, and we were driving through the smoke and just hoping that that was still the right choice,” she told Black Press Media. But her husband and 40 temporary foreign workers from Mex…
Summerland fruit growers face mounting losses as wildfire's toll grows - Vanderhoof Omineca Express
When Claire Tamang was forced to flee her cherry orchard in Meadow Valley near Summerland last Friday with her 10-day-old baby, she had just enough warning to squeeze through the only exit just before the fire closed off her escape route. “The flames were on both sides, and we were driving through the smoke and just hoping that that was still the right choice,” she told Black Press Media. But her husband and 40 temporary foreign workers from Mex…
Summerland fruit growers face mounting losses as wildfire's toll grows - Northern Sentinel
When Claire Tamang was forced to flee her cherry orchard in Meadow Valley near Summerland last Friday with her 10-day-old baby, she had just enough warning to squeeze through the only exit just before the fire closed off her escape route. “The flames were on both sides, and we were driving through the smoke and just hoping that that was still the right choice,” she told Black Press Media. But her husband and 40 temporary foreign workers from Mex…
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