Wildfires ravaging western Canada force tens of thousands to flee

Fires ravaging western Canada gained more ground on Sunday as two blazes merged and residents continued to evacuate.

Rapidly evolving wildfires threatened large parts of the scenic Okanagan Valley, including the city of Kelowna, British Columbia.

The situation in the popular boating and hiking destination was “highly dynamic,” said Bowinn Ma, the province’s minister of emergency management.

“Do not travel to fire-affected areas of the province for tourism,” she added Sunday.

Around 30,000 people were under evacuation orders while another 36,000 were under alert to be ready to flee, she said.

Kelowna, a city of 150,000, was choked with thick smoke as it became the latest population center hit by one of the many wildfires scorching Canada this summer.

“It has been horrible to spend the week with this air. It is horrible to breathe,” Mary Hicks, a 29-year-old IT worker who had been visiting the region from Montreal, told AFP on Sunday. “I really want to go home.”

But she was stuck there for now, with her return flight canceled. The airport hopes to resume flights this week, depending on visibility.

“When I had to pack, in the moment I was crying, crying, crying,” said April, 39, who with her two small children fled her home east of Kelowna and was staying in a hotel outside the city.

On the other side of Okanagan Lake, a number of homes on the outskirts of West Kelowna had been burned, though authorities remained optimistic that the city could avoid a full evacuation.

Some residents remained worried, however.

“My sister’s boyfriend’s house has burnt down. He lives in the West Kelowna side and it was so windy that the fire was spreading and they couldn’t control it,” said Bogi Bagosi, a 16-year-old student.

“It’s kind of heartbreaking to watch the city burn down. They are doing the best to stop it but it is not enough.”