British Columbia has declared a state of emergency after a rapidly spreading wildfire forced thousands of residents to evacuate as the blaze in the western Canadian province nearly doubled in size overnight.
The Bald Range wildfire was burning out of control on Saturday and had expanded to around 9,500 hectares (23,500 acres), prompting evacuation orders in Summerland, Peachland and several other areas west of Okanagan Lake in the province’s southern interior.
The affected region is home to much of British Columbia’s wine industry and is also Canada’s second-largest wine-producing area. Officials said the fire has resulted in the largest evacuation operation recorded in the province so far this summer, with more than 20,000 people across British Columbia forced to leave their homes.
Premier David Eby described the situation as highly dangerous, saying a fire official had compared the blaze to “a bomb going off”.
According to Eby, the fire was producing flames reaching about 100 feet up trees, with flames rising another 200 feet above them. The intense heat was also generating its own weather system, including lightning that could further fuel the wildfire.
“Homes have been lost, and properties have been destroyed. Some people became trapped as conditions changed very quickly, and needed to be rescued,” Eby said during a news conference on Saturday.
Summerland, which has a population of about 12,000 based on the 2021 census, and Peachland, with around 6,500 residents, were among the communities affected by the evacuation orders.
The state of emergency gives the provincial government immediate access to additional powers, including imposing travel restrictions, protecting essential supplies from price gouging and coordinating rescue operations.
Summerland Mayor Doug Holmes said farms had also been affected, while the full extent of structural damage remained unclear as firefighters continued battling the blaze.
“We have to brace ourselves for the worst,” he said in a phone interview from Penticton.
Many residents began leaving their homes overnight, with some travelling south towards Penticton and others heading north to Kelowna before sections of major highways were closed.
Summerland resident Terry Fries said he was watching a football match on Friday night when a neighbour warned him to prepare to leave as the fire intensified. After authorities issued an evacuation order around midnight, Fries and his family drove about 45 kilometres north to Kelowna.
Videos recorded by residents showed flames near highways and structures burning as people fled the affected areas. By Saturday afternoon, ash had begun settling on vehicles and homes in nearby communities, while the wildfire turned the skies orange.
Summerland also experienced a power outage and issued a boil-water notice after untreated water entered the municipal system when the wildfire forced water supplies to bypass the treatment plant.
Hot and dry conditions have contributed to a challenging wildfire season across Canada, with several provinces, including Ontario and Quebec, also dealing with major blazes. Firefighters from Mexico, Australia, France and New Zealand have been deployed to assist Canadian crews.
In British Columbia alone, around 1,500 firefighters were battling more than 100 wildfires, while authorities had issued 40 evacuation orders and 49 evacuation alerts amid continued concerns over worsening fire conditions.
The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre said wildfires had burned approximately four million hectares (9.9 million acres) across Canada this year, underscoring the scale of the country’s ongoing wildfire crisis.
