More than 20,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in the last few hours in western Canada due to the rapid advance of the fire declared on Friday in the British Columbia region.
The fire started in the afternoon, about 15 kilometers northwest of Summerland, at the southwestern tip of Okanagan Lake, about 250 kilometers east of Vancouver. What was initially considered a controlled fire has quickly gotten out of hand: in just three hours, the flames have ravaged about 5,000 hectares in the Okanagan Valley, one of the country's main wine-producing areas.
According to the latest communication from the authorities of the municipality of Summerland, the area affected by the so-called Bald Range fire is already approaching 9,500 hectares and the entire area has been left without electricity supply. Meanwhile, the country's Prime Minister, Mark Carney, has appeared on social media to offer the British Columbia authorities all possible assistance from the Government.
The evacuation order affects 12,000 residents of Summerland and another 8,000 people from the neighboring municipality of Peachland and surrounding areas.