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A state of emergency has been declared after thousands of people were forced to flee their homes as a fast-moving wildfire spread rapidly in western Canada, doubling in size since it was first detected on Friday.
The Bald Range fire now occupies more than 53 sq miles (136 sq km) across Summerland, Peachland and other areas of British Columbia, according to the BC Wildfire Service.
“We have to brace ourselves for the worst,” Summerland Mayor Doug Holmes told Reuters. The entire Summerland area has been forced to evacuate along with thousands of others in nearby areas.
Officials said the flames were so high that they had created their own weather systems, which creates lightning.
British Columbia Premier David Eby told a news conference on Saturday that one fire official had likened the fire to “a bomb going off”.
“Homes have been lost, and properties have been destroyed. Some people became trapped as conditions changed very quickly, and needed to be rescued,” the premier said.
A state of emergency allows the provincial government access to special powers including travel restrictions and supply protections to prevent price gouging, and extra resources to coordinate rescue work.
Summerland, which has a population of about 12,000 people, has been one of the hardest hit areas and forced to evacuate. So were residents in parts of Peachland, which is home to about 6,500 residents.
“We have been on evacuation alert many times,” said Earl Kurz, a Peachland resident of 30 years. “This is the first time we were actually evacuated.”
Kurz was on a boat with his wife in Okanagan Lake on Friday afternoon, when he saw clear blue skies rapidly turn hazy grey. By nightfall, dark clouds of smoke above a raging wildfire came into view. It was headed towards Kurz.
“We watched it from the lake,” he said. “It was unreal.”
Hours later, police knocked on his door and ordered him and his wife to evacuate.
Kurz said they are now safe in a camper miles away.
The Bald Range wildfires triggered the largest evacuation event this summer and more than 20,000 people across British Columbia have evacuated their homes, officials say.
“A lot of farms have been affected. We don’t know how many structures have been lost. They’re still busy fighting the fire,” Summerland Mayor Doug Holmes said.
Hundreds of residents living in Summerland care facilities, including senior housing, were being relocated to safer areas, according to Interior Health, a publicly funded health authority in BC.
It was not yet clear how many structures had been destroyed in the blaze.
The regional districts of Central Okanagan and Okanagan-Similkameen, as well as Snpink’tn Indian Band and the districts of Summerland and Peachland have issued evacuation orders, with evacuation alerts in some areas, according wildfire officials.
In Okanagan, there are a lot of horses that residents have been struggling to evacuate, Canadian broadcaster CBC reported.
Those unable to relocate their animals left their gates open in the hope the animals would find their own way to safety, local residents told CBC.
Some owners also painted markings on their animals to make them easier to identify later, according to the outlet.
Hundreds of wildfires have raged across Canada this summer, with nearly 200 burning in Ontario in July, sending air quality in Toronto to one of the worst levels in the world for a few days.
Smoke from those Canadian wildfires drifted down into parts of the US, including Minnesota and New York, leading US President Donald Trump to threaten new tariffs on the US’s northern neighbour.
