VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — British Columbia declared a state of emergency Saturday as a fast-moving wildfire forced more than 20,000 people from communities in western Canada, destroying homes as it raced toward towns along Okanagan Lake.
Premier David Eby announced the emergency as more than 100 wildfires burned across the province, nearly half of them out of control in hot, windy weather and prolonged drought.
The entire community of Summerland,
home to about 12,000 people, was ordered evacuated overnight, along with about 8,000 people in and around nearby Peachland. Officials had not determined how many homes were destroyed.
The Bald Range wildfire was first reported on Friday evening but grew to about 50 square kilometers (19 square miles) within hours, overwhelming the smaller community of Faulder and covering the roughly 15 kilometers (9 miles) to Summerland at extraordinary speed.
Erick Thompson, an emergency official with the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, called it one of the “quickest-moving, fastest-growing” wildfires the region had experienced.
Thompson eventually had to abandon the emergency operations center and evacuate his own family.
“I had to leave the EOC to come and get my family to leave this area. We’re heading south,” he said in a video posted early Saturday from his vehicle as traffic backed up around him.
Canada has endured increasingly destructive wildfire seasons in recent years, forcing mass evacuations and repeatedly sending smoke across large parts of Canada and the United States.
Videos posted on social media appeared to show multiple homes burning as residents fled along roads with flames on both sides.
Homeowner Kerry Gold and her husband, Mike Elsinga, fled around 12:30 a.m. after watching flames spread beyond nearby mountains.
“It’s scary. It’s moving fast,” Gold said.
The couple, who recently moved from the city of Vancouver, had packed bags, prepared a carrier for their cat and planned to help a disabled friend evacuate.
“You want to stay here and protect your home, but you also don’t want to get caught in it,” Elsinga said.
