Watch: Fast-moving Canada wildfire doubles in size forcing mass evacuations; 1 dead
One woman has been killed in a fast-moving wildfire in western Canada, police said, as authorities declared a state of emergency and ordered thousands of residents to flee their homes.The wildfire, which was first detected on Friday, has since doubled in size and continues to spread rapidly.The Bald Range fire has spread across more than 53 square miles (136 sq km) in Summerland, Peachland and other parts 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 ordered to evacuate, along with thousands of residents in nearby communities.Officials said the flames were so intense that they generated their own weather systems, which in turn can produce lightning.British Columbia Premier David Eby told a news conference on Saturday that one fire official had compared the blaze 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," Eby said.The state of emergency gives the provincial government special powers, including imposing travel restrictions, protecting supplies to prevent price gouging and deploying additional resources to coordinate rescue operations.Summerland, which has a population of about 12,000, has been among the worst-hit areas and was placed under an evacuation order.
Residents in parts of Peachland, a community of about 6,500 people, were also ordered to evacuate."We have been on evacuation alert many times," Earl Kurz, a Peachland resident of 30 years was quoted as saying by the BBC. "This is the first time we were actually evacuated."Hundreds of wildfires have been reported across Canada this summer, including nearly 200 that were burning in Ontario in July.
The fires pushed air quality in Toronto to among the worst levels in the world for several days.Smoke from the wildfires also drifted into parts of the US, including Minnesota and New York, prompting US President Donald Trump to threaten new tariffs on Canada.Catch the latest World News and Live updates.
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