An Oliver resident is thanking the fire department for their quick response when lightning struck a tree near her home on Saturday.
“Wanted to give a huge shout out to the Oliver Fire Department,” said Shannon Demelo on the Oliver Facebook group. Lightning struck a tree, catching it on fire around 2 p.m.
“Some of you may have heard the boom from town,” Demelo said. “It was the loudest thing I have ever heard.”
She went to see what happened and saw that the tree was on fire.
The Oliver resident said firefighters were there ‘so fast’ to put out the lightning-caused fire. The tree is now very blackened by the lightning strike and needs to be taken down.
The fire department has blocked off the river dyke road from town to Buchanan Drive until the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen can come to fall the tree on Monday, she said.
On Thursday, June 3, Oliver firefighters were busy fighting a wildfire that was threatening homes on Road 13.
According to Oliver fire department deputy fire chief Rob Graham, multiple units responded and were quickly able to surround the fire with a wet guard.
It’s believed someone was using a weed wacker that hit a rock that sparked the fire.
READ ALSO: Two fires deemed arson in Oliver
To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.
<p<
Â
@PentictonNews newstips@pentictonwesternnews.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
