Elderly woman unaccounted for after fire destroys Skaha Lake home

Emergency responders in Penticton have been unable to locate an elderly resident of a home that was destroyed by a fire on Wednesday evening, near Skaha Lake Marina.

Fire officials said one person is unaccounted for after flames destroyed one home and damaged another in the 3900 area of Lakeside Road.

"The reports are that there's a 90-some year-old lady that lives at home and nobody at thistime can give her whereabouts or her location," said fire chief Larry Watkinson.

Crews responded with limited resources after receiving reports of a structure fire around 6:15 p.m. PT but upgraded the response while on route when they saw a large plume of black smoke.

As they got closer they could see the flames and upgraded it to a third alarm fire. Once on scene crews battled a heavy fire that had fully engulfed one residence.

The situation was made worse by a strong southerly wind that threatened to push the fire into Skaha Bluffs Provincial Park and neighbouring homes.

"We were trying to defend the two properties to the north and the south of the primary dwelling that was fully engulfed in fire,"explainedWatkinson.

"[It also] ... stretched into large pine trees that could have been blowing embers throughout the park."

Once more crews arrived at the fire,Watkinson said they were better able to prevent the fire from jumping to neighbouring residences.

"However, there is significant damage to the dwelling to the north," he added.

By 9:30 p.m. the flames had been extinguished.

Because of the damage to the home, RCMP andfire investigators won't begin an investigation until Thursday morning.