2014-07-01

Fire in Merritt

Copyright: Heidi I. Koehler

July 2nd Edit: It was the Earthwalker store, not the restaurant Starz which shares the same name as the hair salon, which was so heavily damaged in the fire. In case it's not clear in my commentary the firefighters did a tremendous job in trying to put it out.

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After a nice day fishing, planning what to do July 1st (Canada Day), and making cherry jam the day came to a close with a fire in downtown Merritt.
Evidently the local pet shop, East Indian restaurant and hair saloon are toast. The fire fighters were trying to contain it when we left at about 11:00. It had started at about 8:30pm we heard from other people.
Back of the shops on Quilchena
Police and Firefighters keeping public away

Looking East on Quilchena- thick, nasty smoke

The fire kept spurting up- most of the pets were rescued from the shop

We watched and there was simply not enough water- burning continued

The smoke was horrid- at one point police yelled at bystanders to get out of it

At least 3 shops are probably completely destroyed

July 2nd- the day after: