The wildfires caused by hot and dry weather in recent days forced on Thursday more than 1,500 residents to leave their homes in Kelowna, the third largest city in Canada's west province of British Columbia.
Central Okanagan Emergency Operations, which is located in Kelowna, about 400 km northeast of Vancouver, said in a statement that a small fire on the edge of the neighborhood in west Kelowna bloomed from a patch to more than 30 hectares in size in a few hours over Thursday afternoon and forced the local residents to leave immediately.
The number of wildfires roaring throughout British Columbia climbed to more than 140 as the province is plagued by hot, dry conditions. About seven of them have forced local residents to leave their homes.
Meanwhile, the Municipal District of Greenview No.16, in neighboring province of Alberta province, declared a state of local emergency and issued an evacuation order Tuesday evening because of a serious wildfire near the B.C.-Alberta border.
People in the area were advised to follow the directions of local authorities. Visibility was expected to be affected, and doors, windows as well as vents should be closed, the alert stated.