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Smoke rises from the Bald Range wildfire, which is causing tactical evacuations by helicopter, northwest of Summerland, B.C., overnight Friday.BC Wildfire Service/Reuters
British Columbia Premier David Eby has declared a state of emergency as a wildfire continues to rage near Summerland, destroying homes, leaving some rural homeowners stranded amid the flames and forcing tens of thousands of others to flee Okanagan beachside communities.
The fires are a “very dynamic” situation and were like a bomb going off in the Summerland region, Eby said during a Saturday news conference. He said the top priority was saving lives on what he called an “unimaginable day.”
“What we have seen in the last 24 hours is a steep change and a significant departure in terms of fire behaviour in the province,” he said.
The Bald Range wildfire was first reported at 4:29 p.m. Friday, but it roared in size, burning 50 square kilometres in a few hours, raining ash on Summerland and raging so swiftly that fighters had to recalibrate their strategies.
By Saturday morning the fire had nearly doubled again, growing to 95 square kilometres.
More than 20,000 residents were forced to evacuate Summerland and other Okanagan Lake communities overnight as the wildfire destroyed homes in its path.
By Saturday, evacuation orders covered the entire community of Summerland, population 12,000, while a further 8,000 were told to flee in and around Peachland, both on the western shore of the lake.
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An emergency vehicle passes a closed section of Highway 97 south of Peachland, B.C., on Saturday.Gary Nylander/The Canadian Press
Jim Carpenter woke up on Saturday at 2:30 a.m. to the sound of police banging on his door, yelling that he must evacuate.
Mr. Carpenter has lived in Peachland, located roughly 23 kilometres southwest of Kelowna, for 30 years and never evacuated until then.
He grabbed his cat, some insurance papers and ran to his motorhome to drive to Kelowna.
He said the fires have moved rapidly toward his community and lit up the night sky with an orange glow from the flames. As he was driving away, daylight revealed the thick smoke that blanketed the road.
Mr. Carpenter said he’s not sure whether his home will be safe or not.
“You got to be worried about embers that can be launched away into the air by the fire and come down and start spot fires on your property,” he said.
Summerland homeowner Kerry Gold and her husband, Mike Elsinga, said in an interview before they fled around 12:30 a.m. that they could see flames licking the skies beyond the mountains.
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The Bald Range wildfire burns, as seen from a vehicle, northwest of Summerland, B.C., late on Friday.BC Wildfire Service/Reuters
“It’s scary. It’s moving fast,” Gold said from their newly restored heritage home.
Mr. Elsinga said the fire was heralded around 7 p.m. by a “massive plume” of smoke. Then, Ms. Gold said there was “nothing but flames in the near distance.”
“You want to stay here and protect your home, but I guess you also don’t want to get caught in it,” Mr. Elsinga said.
Dozens of stranded residents were told to gather at designated areas, where they were picked up by helicopters and flown to safety.
Roads south from Summerland toward Penticton were jammed with evacuees after the order for the entire community to flee came down at midnight, followed by expanded orders covering communities north toward Peachland.
Air tanker aircraft had been dropping retardant to help protect nearby houses but were forced to abandon their flights Friday night because of high turbulence.
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The Bald Range wildfire west of Summerland, B.C., is seen Friday in a photo from the BC Wildfire Service.HO/The Canadian Press
Video posted to social media showed some residents filming out of a helicopter window as the fire raged not far away.
Officials have not yet tallied the destruction from Friday night, but the flame front overwhelmed the smaller community of Faulder as the Bald Range wildfire closed the 15-kilometre distance to Summerland in just a few hours.
Social media videos showed multiple homes ablaze as residents fled, with fire on both sides of the road.
The District of Summerland declared of local state of emergency, allowing it to authorize the evacuation of the entire community and limit travel.
“Winds were carrying embers up to a kilometre ahead of the main body of the fire,” the service said in an update.
Emergency information officer Erick Thompson, with the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, said it was one of the “quickest-moving, fastest-growing” wildfires the area had seen.
The escape from Summerland played out on the district’s YouTube feed, where Mr. Thompson hosted a series of live videos, ending with an evacuation from his own home after he was forced to abandon the emergency operations centre and race to his family.
“I had to leave the EOC to come and get my family to leave this area. We’re heading south,” he said around 1:40 a.m. in a final video from his darkened vehicle. “There’s a lot of traffic backup right now.”
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An RCMP officer talks to the driver of a car in an evacuated area on Renfrew Rd. south of Peachland, B.C., on Saturday.Gary Nylander/The Canadian Press
He urged fellow residents to get out as quickly as possible.
“I don’t need to tell anybody that it’s troubling for everyone that this is happening to our community, but we have to be strong, (for) our loved ones, and especially for everyone who needs the help, needs the support. So, look in on your neighbours.”
Kelowna resident Chelsie Lesnoski said she got in her truck and raced the 45-kilometre trip to Summerland on Friday when she heard flames were closing in on the community.
The 27-year-old said she’s been on the road all day since then, losing count of how many trips she’s made getting both evacuees and animals out.
“People love their animals and we don’t discriminate. We’ve been putting the animals in every nook and cranny in the rig to make sure we can get them all,” she said.
While taking a load of horses, goats and chickens out of the community, Ms. Lesnoski said her truck was surrounded by tall flames on either side of the road, which melted her side-view mirrors.
Her grandparents were among those who evacuated south to Penticton. She said she checks out their home during every rescue trip.
Ms. Lesnoski evacuated during the 2023 Kelowna wildfires and said the incident prepared her for this year’s blazes.
“This is definitely not new for us unfortunately. You don’t have the time to think about fear, and you can’t measure up to what everyone else is going through,” she said.
The BC Wildfire Service said in an update that the fire’s behaviour calmed Saturday morning, but it was expecting that to increase as temperatures rise and light winds, which are in the forecast for Saturday, start to pick up.
It said more fire crews, structure protection personnel, fire departments, heavy equipment and aircraft were being mobilized.
With a report from The Canadian Press