The Lower East Adams Lake wildfire in B.C.'s Shuswap region is shown in a handout photo. The British Columbia Wildfire Service says hot and dry weather is contributing to "extreme fire behaviour" in the southern Interior as a ridge of high-pressure settled over the province this week, sending temperatures soaring and further drying fuel in the forests. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-BC Wildfire Service **MANDATORY CREDIT**
KAMLOOPS, B.C. – A local state of emergency has been declared for the City of West Kelowna and part of the Westbank First Nation under threat from a wildfire.
Central Okanagan Emergency Operations has also placed 68 properties on evacuation order and another 5,700 properties on alert due to the nearby McDougall Creek wildfire, which has grown to three square kilometres in a matter of hours.
The areas under evacuation order or alert don’t include Highway 97, which runs through the community, but do cover several business areas, neighbourhoods and subdivisions.
Evacuees are being asked to register online or go to the Information Centre at Royal LePage Place.
Cliff Chapman, the director of the BC Wildfire Service, says they were seeing extreme behaviour by the McDougall Creek wildfire early this morning, which is very unusual.
Most of the southern half of the province has been baking under a record-setting heat wave, and Chapman says the breakdown of a high-pressure ridge will bring gusty winds and dry lightning, making the next few days the most challenging of the wildfire season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 17, 2023.
