The McDougall Creek wildfire burns on the mountainside above houses in West Kelowna, B.C., on Friday, August 18, 2023. Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

B.C. enters state of emergency over wildfire crisis, as 10,000 more told to evacuate

British Columbia Premier David Eby has declared a provincewide state of emergency in response to "unprecedented" wildfires that have forced the evacuation of at least 10,000 more people late Friday.

Eby says the situation has "evolved and deteriorated" quite rapidly.

Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma says the number of people under evacuation order in B.C. went from 4,500 to 15,000 in the matter of an hour.

A further 20,000 people are under evacuation alert.

Ma says a state of emergency allows the province to compel co-operation in the fire fight from "unwilling partners," although co-operation has so far been excellent.

The state of emergency comes as homes continue to burn in West Kelowna, where the city's fire chief says a "significant" number of properties were destroyed.

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Marshall Jones

News is best when it's local, relevant, timely and interesting. That's our focus every day.

We are on the ground in Penticton, Vernon, Kelowna and Kamloops to bring you the stories that matter most.

Marshall may call West Kelowna home, but after 16 years in local news and 14 in the Okanagan, he knows better than to tell readers in other communities what is "news' to them. He relies on resident reporters to reflect their own community priorities and needs. As the newsroom leader, his job is making those reporters better, ensuring accuracy, fairness and meeting the highest standards of journalism.

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