About 100 firefighters from Mexico were expected to arrive Tuesday to help fight a deadly wildfire that has forced 20,000 people to flee and destroyed homes and other properties near Okanagan Lake in Western Canada, officials said.

Wildfire Destruction

The fire has killed an 80-year-old woman and burned toward Summerland, a community of about 12,000 people roughly 300 kilometers (185 miles) east of Vancouver. Cliff Chapman, director of provincial operations for the British Columbia Wildfire Service, said crews were working around the clock to establish control lines and make it safe for residents to return.

British Columbia officials said they had secured 1,600 hotel rooms and 1,000 group-lodging spaces for evacuees in Okanagan after some residents faced delays getting emergency assistance during the weekend evacuation. Across the province, evacuation orders affected more than 20,000 people Tuesday, while another 10,000 were told to be ready to leave on short notice.

Response Efforts

More than 100 wildfires were burning across the province, and officials warned that dry lightning could spark new fires in the Central Interior and Okanagan. The province also asked the federal government for help expanding lodging for evacuees. Kevin Dunbar, British Columbia’s executive director for emergency response and recovery operations, called it one of the largest evacuations in recent British Columbia history.

RCMP are investigating whether criminal activity played a role in the fire. Chapman said about 4% of wildfires in British Columbia over the past decade were suspected of having been deliberately set, but officials have not said the Bald Range fire was intentionally started.

Original reporting: Alexandria, VA News – WTOP News — read the source article.