Until Sept. 4, restricted travel for anyone planning to stay in temporary accommodation in Kelowna, Kamloops, Oliver, Osoyoos, Penticton and Vernon. Tens of thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate because of B.C. wildfires.
KELOWNA — British Columbia imposed bans on travel to wildfire zones on Saturday after evacuee numbers doubled to 30,000 or more, marking another day of dramatic developments in the province’s desperate battle against hundreds of blazes.
B.C. Premier David Eby said the sheer scale of the evacuations prompted the government to issue an order restricting travel to fire-affected areas to ensure accommodation was available for evacuees and emergency personnel. Ma said the latest order, effective immediately until Sept. 4, restricted travel for anyone planning to stay in temporary accommodation in Kelowna, Kamloops, Oliver, Osoyoos, Penticton and Vernon.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office issued a statement on Saturday saying he convened the incident response group — made up of ministers and senior officials — to discuss the wildfire situation in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. “We were still fighting tens, multiple structure fires at the same time in the community. So to call that a reprieve, it just boggles my mind,” he said at the morning news conference.“Today the fire fight is on again out there,” he said.
Claire Blaker came down to the Kelowna waterfront to look across the lake, wondering if her house in the West Kelowna Estates was still standing. “It’s just like, what can you do? And, I don’t usually get too emotional but I definitely got some tears welling up at the evacuation centre, and you’re just in shock.”
But conditions were calmer than during Thursday and Friday’s desperate battle against flames that consumed numerous homes and other properties, including the Lake Okanagan Resort. At least one evacuation order for part of the Westbank First Nation was also downgraded to an alert around midnight.Chris Durkee and Danielle Mogdam and their five kids just returned to their Kelowna home from a trip to Alberta and thought they were safe from the fire across the lake, only to be awoken by a neighbour banging on their door to tell them a mountainside visible from their yard was on fire.
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