You could pick the singed pine needles up off Pat Brown’s deck in Coral Beach, the Carrs Landing-area resident said Friday as the Terrace Mountain fire burned toward Fintry.

The cove sits directly across from Fintry and LaCasa Lakeside Cottage Resort on the east side of Okanagan Lake, offering the best view of the fire.

To hit the homes in Fintry, which evacuated Thursday, the flames would need to burn down the ridge and crest a smaller one—though there are farms that delve back into the gully between.

On Brown’s side of the lake, the smoke had finally cleared by Friday and temperatures were considerably cooler, serving to ease the tension of watching the fire unfold.

“We had to keep all the doors and windows closed yesterday. The smoke was just like big cumulous clouds going up and up,” he said, gesturing skyward with his hands.

Those pine needles proved a problem for his partner Virginia May whose painting suffered a few fire editions yesterday before her acrylics dried. She left for Calgary on Friday, but when she returns, she’ll have to deal with a blue sky etched with the charcoal of falling needles drawing clouds into her sky.

Down the road Rich Gibbons had his own concerns.

His family has owned the property where his home sits on Okanagan Centre Road for 55 years.

His home was built 34 years ago, but even as a long-standing resident, Gibbons said he feels he’s living there on borrowed time, similar to most Southern B.C. residents.

“The reality is, Southern B.C. is a tinder box,” he said, noting he particularly enjoyed the CBC weather person’s description of the situation as she explained how far-reaching the fire warnings stretch. Even on the coast, he said.

According to the B.C. Fire Service’s website, camp fire bans are only in effect in portions of both Vancouver Island and in the Lower Mainland. The website stated the ban extended throughout the Coastal Fire Centre.

Communication staff for the fire service could only suggest looking at the website when asked if there was a province-wide campfire ban; and no such ban was listed.

Locally, however, the danger has been realized. Central Okanagan fire chiefs have implemented a total ban on campfires within all local government jurisdictions of the Regional District of Central Okanagan, including the City of Kelowna, District of West Kelowna, District of Lake Country, District of Peachland and the Central Okanagan East (Joe Rich/Ellison) and West Electoral Areas (Brent Road, Trepanier and North Westside).

Gibbons, meanwhile, said his family even thinks twice before firing up the barbecue right now. Thursday evening, as he sat on his deck, he watched his white shirt turn black from ash and soot in the air.

“It’s been pretty troubling. I’d say we’re very much bothered by what’s happening to the people on that side of the lake,” he said.

In as much as he’s worried for their homes, he’s also a little concerned that if ash can turn his T-shirt black, it could also spread the fire.

“It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that it could travel the lake,” he added, noting quickly he’s not an expert in such matters, but that the neighbourhood had certainly been talking.

The primary concern remains for those whose homes are in danger, but he’s got his contingency plan should fire strike near his property. He knows exactly what he would take in an evacuation.

Interior Health’s air quality index, meanwhile, was projecting a moderate health risk rating for Friday evening, and the rest of the weekend, reaching a five on their air quality index, on a scale of one to 10.

jsmith@kelownacapnews.com