A B.C. man watched his family’s summer home of 31 years burn down on Saturday after the Bradley Creek wildfire roared through the area.

“We were holding our own, but homes around me began to start on fire and it changed the whole game,” Jeff Moore, whose cabin was on Okanagan Lake, told Global News.

When his family fled Saturday, Moore, who is a retired forestry firefighter who specializes in wildfire suppression, stayed behind to protect the vacation property. But late in the day, the fire’s behavior quickly changed.

Sustained winds of 85 kilometres an hour pushed the fire north fast.

“We thought we had more time,” Moore said.

My wife and family were able to get out and they didn’t want to leave me there, but I kept telling them that the lake is my saviour.”

Moore escaped on a neighbor’s boat. From the water, he watched the flames destroy his family’s summer retreat.

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“When things go over the top like this, there’s only so much that can be done,” he said.

“It’s a time when you just have to stand back and say, ‘Hey, we gotta be cautious here. There’s lives at stake’.”

Westside Road residents ran for their lives as the fast-moving inferno quintupled in size over five hours Saturday, jumping Highway 97 at the north end of Okanagan Lake.

As of Tuesday, it is mapped at 2,852 hectares in size and the chief of the Okanagan Indian Band said on Tuesday morning that it is believed up to 230 homes have been lost in the fire.

Four evacuation orders for hundreds of properties are still in place from the Okanagan Indian Band, the township of Spallumcheen, the regional district of North Okanagan and Splatsin.

B.C. Wildfire Officials said that there was no significant growth on the fire on Monday and crews and heavy equipment continue to work along the south and north flanks of the fire, as well as mopping up hotspots around homes in community areas.