Winds spurred on the forest fires that are roaring out of control in B.C.'s interior, forcing more than 20,000 people to flee Friday night. By Saturday morning, many houses had been devoured by flames.
About 30,000 residents have now been issued evacuation orders, Karen Cairns, an information officer, told globeandmail.com Friday.
A further 8,000 are still on alert, told that they might have to pack up and leave at a moment's notice, after the fire began advancing at speeds up to 100 metres/minute.
It is impossible to tell yet if more residents will be evacuated Saturday, Catherine Piazza, a provincial emergency coordinator, said Friday evening. "It's an emerging situation and we just don't know. It depends on the winds," she said. "The focus right now is on getting the people [who have already been issued evacuation notices] out."
By early Saturday morning, officials were slightly more optimistic. Although the valley was filling with smoke, the winds had dropped, said Bruce Smith, a regional spokesman.
Carol Suhan, of the emergency operations centre, said the evacuations were "done for right now." She said officials had blanketed the area with orders to leave, and doubted that new evacuation orders would be issued early Saturday.
The total of 30,000 people evacuated includes the 7,000 who were forced from their homes on Thursday night. Initially, that number was said to be 10,000, but Carol Suhan of the emergency operations centre told globeandmail.com that the total mistakenly included empty lots in the evacuation area.
The order Friday included homes in an area known as South Mission, and residents were being sent to two evacuation centres in downtown Kelowna. Ms. Suhan said people in the centres appeared "stunned."
The fire has now been designated class six, the highest rating a fire can have. Some flames shot 400 feet in the air.
Officials told Globe and Mail reporter Mark Hume that by early Saturday morning a substantial number of homes were destroyed, but they did not yet know how many.
People gather to watch as flames creep closer to homes in the Mission area of Kelowna on Thursday (Gary Nylander/CP)
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Mr. Smith said that a team would begin a damage assessment at 6 a.m. local time, and then once again go through the difficult process of tracking down homeowners who have lost their property.
A globeandmail.com reader said in an e-mail that "It looks like most of the wineries and orchards are toast already." He said many vehicles on the streets were towered with people's belongings.
Local roads were clogged with cars late Friday night as residents left the south end of town leaving burning houses behind them.
At 8:30, the sky turned black with smoke while the hills to the south were aglow with orange flame.
"Conditions are not looking good," Ms. Suhan said earlier Friday evening. "It doesn't sound very positive." A number of guards built earlier to block the fire had been breached, she said.
Ms. Cairns said that local phone lines were jammed, and 911 was receiving more calls than it could handle. Local residents were asked to call 250-860-0054 rather than 911 in case of emergency.
Ms. Cairns was not sure why the emergency line was flooded with calls, but speculated it might be people with respiratory problems having trouble with the smoke, or people seeing fires approaching their properties.
Telus issued a statement Saturday morning to say that its phone networks were not damaged in the area and that 911 was still working. However, citing congestion, the company requested that all of its customers limit their calls to emergency purposes only.
Officials scrambled Friday evening to determine which streets must be evacuated, Ms. Suhan said. Mr. Smith told globeandmail.com at 10:40 p.m. that they were rushing to get the notice out. It was still being written.
"The evacuation order is being executed by RCMP search and rescue volunteers on loud speakers," Mr. Smith told the Canadian Press.
Officials confirmed on Friday afternoon that 15 homes were lost after forest fires jumped a guard near a residential area in southern Kelowna, B.C. Thursday night.
Mr. Smith told globeandmail.com that fire crews had to leave the area where the houses were lost, saying it was the one of the worst fires they had ever seen.
"Fire crews had to drop everything and run [because of the danger]," Mr. Smith said. Ms. Suhan said she heard more stories of firefighters surrounded by flames on Friday night.
Initial reports estimated 25 homes were destroyed Thursday but Friday morning the figure was reduced to 15 houses.
As of Friday afternoon, the fire had spread across 17,000 hectares and was growing, Mr. Smith said. He said it was "very active" on the north east front, or the area of most concern to the people of Kelowna.
Ms. Suhan told globeandmail.com Friday morning that Thursday evening was "organized pandemonium." She said the alert was not supposed to happen until later Friday morning, but the wind picked up unexpectedly.
Many people are noting numerous acts of neighbourly goodwill in Kelowna and surrounding areas, similar to the stories that arose from Ontario's blackout. Ms. Suhan said a number of homes have offered to take in pets. Mr. Smith said people are delivering food to those affected and are offering to take entire families of strangers under their rooves. Signs thanking firefighters have popped up all over. "There's been no shortage of generosity," Mr. Smith said.
With reports from Mark Hume, Jane Armstrong and Jonathan Fowlie
