Fast-moving Bald Range wildfire forces all 12,000 Summerland residents to evacuate

All 12,000 residents of the District of Summerland, B.C., have been ordered to evacuate as the nearby Bald Range wildfire has been declared "out of control" by authorities.

The district declared a state of emergency Saturday morning, saying the wildfire poses a "significant threat" to people's health and safety. The fire was first detected Friday evening around 5:30 p.m. PT and grew to 50 square kilometres in just three hours. By Saturday morning, it had nearly doubled in size.

Highway 97 is now closed in both directions between Peachland and the Pyramid picnic area at Kickininee Provincial Park. Power has been lost throughout the district. Interior Health is working to relocate 238 residents from two care facilities: 48 from the Dr. Andrew Pavillion long-term care home and 190 from Summerland Seniors Village.

Residents in the area reported having only minutes to escape. One woman who lived on Fish Lake Road said she and her family grabbed their dogs and important paperwork, leaving before any official evacuation alert was issued. "By the time we got out, we had embers on the seats of our car," she said.

B.C.'s central and southern Interior regions are also under air quality warnings due to wildfire smoke, with children, older people, and those with asthma advised to limit outdoor exercise.