The BC Wildfire Service says the fire smouldering south of Penticton is now unlikely to spread. The service has reclassified the fire that scorched more than 20 square kilometres on the east side of Skaha Lake as ``held.'' A fire is held when the service believes enough action has been taken with the resources at hand that the fire is not likely to spread under prevailing or forecasted conditions. The majority of residents forced to flee have been allowed to return home and authorities have said they hope to lift the evacuation order for 74 remaining properties soon.

British Columbia has two outbreaks of COVID-19 at health care facilities as officials reported 58 new cases across the province on Tuesday. They say the two outbreaks are in the Fraser Health region, one at Bear Creek Villa and the other at Langley Memorial Hospital. Health officials declared an outbreak at the hospital in Langley when a patient tested positive after being discharged Monday and noticed symptoms on returning home. Dr. Elizabeth Brodkin, Fraser Health's interim chief medical health officer, says they are working to identify how many people may have been exposed. She says the ho

A wildfire south of Penticton is dying down, allowing firefighting crews to move around its flanks as officials inspect the area to ensure it's safe for evacuees to return to their homes. The fire has scorched more than 20 square kilometres of land on the east side of Skaha Lake and destroyed one home since last week.The B-C Wildfire Service says the fire is now classified as rank one on a scale of six, which refers to smoldering ground fires with no open flames and white smoke that can be attacked by ground crews using hand tools, pumps and hoses. An evacuation alert was lifted for nearly 37

British Columbia's chief coroner says 175 people fatally overdosed in July, matching the same total in June as access to harm-reduction services such as a safer supply of drugs remains a challenge.Lisa Lapointe says a disruption in the typical supply of drugs due to border closures during the pandemic has led to the trafficking of substances with extreme concentrations of illicit fentanyl. July's death toll represents a 136 per cent increase over the 74 deaths during the same month last year. B.C. set a monthly overdose record in May, when 171 people died.Almost 6,000 people have fatally over

British Columbia has hit its highest number of daily COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, with 109 people testing positive for the disease. The milestone was reached between Friday and Saturday, surpassing the 100 cases reported on Aug. 14. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says 269 cases were reported between Friday and Sunday, and one person died, for a total of 203 fatalities in B.C. Dr. Henry says the province has ramped up testing, with up to 5,000 tests being done every day, and that the undetected transmission rate remains low. However, she says keeping the number o

A recent traffic stop in Kamloops resulted in the seizure of more than 840,000 dollars. Corporal Mike Halskov says a semi-truck had returned to BC from Alberta and it's suspected the cash was drug money. He says a police dog indicated that the money inside smelled like illicit drugs. The driver was a man from Surrey in his 50s and a charge of possession of the proceeds of crime is expected to be laid.

Athletes across BC will have more opportunities to play and compete as viaSport moves into the third phase of its safe return to sport guidelines today. ViaSport is the BC government's lead delivery agency for amateur sports programs that were curtailed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The province says the BC Centre for Disease Control has reviewed viaSport's latest guidelines that cover contact activities, competitions, high-performance training environments and travel. The guidelines offer additional training opportunities, increased group sizes depending on the type of activity, and

Residents who were prepared to leave more than 36-hundred properties threatened by a wildfire southeast of Penticton are no longer under evacuation alert as of this morning.The nearly one-week alert for the properties has been lifted after cooler weather on Sunday helped keep strong winds that threatened to push the fire north toward the city at bay.Donny van Dyk, director of Penticton's emergency operation centre, says B-C Wildfire and regional partners determined the threat caused by the so-called Christie Mountain fire has subsided.An additional 300 or so properties north of Okanagan Falls

Children in British Columbia with extraordinary health needs that require complex care are to receive support at a single site scheduled to open in Vancouver.Health Minister Adrian Dix says the Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children will become a transition centre to help children with complex care needs. Sunny Hill is to relocate to the main campus of the B.C. Children's and Women's Hospitals at the end of August as the third and final phase of its redevelopment.Dix says the Vancouver transition centre will be the first facility in Canada providing a comprehensive range of supports at a singl