UPDATE (3 p.m.):
An evacuation alert has been issued for 20 residences located near the Maranatha Drive house fire in Peachland.
Madison Smith, fire information officer with the BC Wildfire Service, said that the structure fire has spread into nearby forestry and has grown to 0.5 hectares in size.
31 personnel with BC Wildfire Service have been deployed to help fight the flames. Air tankers and a helicopter were called in earlier to drop retardant on the fire.
UPDATE (1:45 p.m.):
Air support has been called in to assist with the house fire growing above Peachland in an attempt to stop it from spreading to the surrounding forestry.
A helicopter was spotted gathering water from Okanagan Lake to help fight the flames. The fire originally started at a Maranatha Drive residence at around 12 p.m. on Saturday.
ORIGINAL (1 p.m.):
Kelowna fire crews are currently responding to a house on fire in Peachland.
Reports of a house on fire came in at around 12 p.m. on Saturday (June 26). A large crowd of smoke can be spotted as far as Kelowna coming from a hillside area in Peachland.
The fire is coming from a residence on Maranatha Drive, just off of Princeton Avenue.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined. Kelowna Capital News will update the story as more information becomes available.
READ MORE: Heat wave prompts need to be neighbourly in Okanagan
READ MORE: 2 more Catholic churches on Indigenous land burn to ground in southern B.C.
@aaron_hemensaaron.hemens@kelownacapnews.com