A fast-moving wildfire in western Canada has forced over 20,000 people to evacuate. 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.
Wildfire Spreads Quickly
The Bald Range wildfire was first reported on Friday evening but grew to about 50 square kilometers within hours, overwhelming the smaller community of Faulder and covering the roughly 15 kilometers 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. Thompson eventually had to abandon the emergency operations center and evacuate his own family.
Homeowner Kerry Gold and her husband, Mike Elsinga, fled around 12:30 a.m. after watching flames spread beyond nearby mountains. “It’s scary. It’s moving fast,” Gold said.
Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.
