The entire population of Summerland, on the west side of Okanagan Lake, was placed under an evacuation order on Friday night due to an aggressive and fast-moving wildfire.
This order affects about 12,000 residents.
The Bald Range wildfire was first reported on Friday afternoon, about 15 kilometres west of the community.
In just the span of a few hours, the blaze grew in size to more than 5,000 hectares.
The BC Wildfire Service says it’s displaying aggressive rank 5 behaviour, with an organized flame front with a fast rate of spread and moderate to long-range spotting.
It also says gusty winds fuelled the quick growth and complicated the firefight for aircraft.
The organization said that the fire is spotting close to a kilometre ahead of the main wildfire zone.
Residents have told Global News that some homes have been lost to the fire.
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Taylor Colman with the BC Wildfire Service said the extreme fire behaviour and rapid fire spread are expected to continue overnight and into Saturday.
Officials have also told Global News that some residents had to be evacuated by helicopter due to the fast-moving wildfire that cut off roadway access.
The area in red is under an evacuation order.
Central Okanagan Emergency Management
Erick Thompson with the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen’s emergency operations centre says the fire was first detected at 5:30 p.m.
He says the fast-moving fire poses an immediate threat and those in the evacuation zone from Summerland north to Peachland need to get out in the face of one of the “quickest-moving, fastest-growing” fires the area has ever seen.
This is a developing story…
-with files from The Canadian Press
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