Vancouver, British ColumbiaAP —
More than 20,000 people were ordered to leave their homes overnight in western Canada as a fast-moving wildfire grew rapidly and raced toward towns along British Columbia’s Okanagan Lake, destroying homes in its path.
The entire community of Summerland, home to about 12,000 people, was ordered evacuated, 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.
