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**
Wildfire evacuation orders have been expanded to hundreds more properties that are being threatened by a blaze near the City of West Kelowna, with thousands of others placed on alert.
Central Okanagan Emergency Operations ordered the evacuations of 763 more properties late Thursday, increasing the total to 831.
It says the “tactical evacuation” of the properties is already under way.
The expansion involves 143 properties in the Bartley Road area and 620 properties in the Rose Valley area of West Kelowna.
About 6,000 other properties were already on evacuation alert due to the McDougall Creek Wildfire, which began Tuesday and has grown to 11 square kilometres in size.
The fire has prompted a local state of emergency for the City of West Kelowna and part of the nearby Westbank First Nation as crews prepare for what authorities say will be the most challenging few days of the province’s record-breaking fire season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 17, 2023.
