More Than 21,700 People Are Under Evacuation Orders as Hundreds of Fires Burn Across Canada.

On Monday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police confirmed that an 80-year-old woman died while trying to leave her home in Meadow Valley, in the province of British Columbia.

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The Bald Range fire, detected Friday afternoon west of Okanagan Lake, spread explosively and burned about 50 square kilometers in its first three hours. By Sunday, it covered 136 square kilometers.

The flames forced the complete evacuation of Summerland, a community of about 12,000 residents located in the Okanagan Valley, a major agricultural and wine-producing region. Thousands of residents of Peachland and other nearby communities also had to leave their homes.

Across British Columbia, about 21,700 people were under evacuation orders and another 10,600 remained on alert, ready to leave their homes. On Sunday, there were more than 100 active wildfires in the province, about 70 of which had started during the past week.

Canada battles massive wildfire

British Columbia declared an emergency over the massive wildfire.

The Bald Range fire burned 9,500 hectares, forcing 20,000 to evacuate.

Homes and farms were destroyed. More than 100 wildfires are burning across the state. pic.twitter.com/SsiZIcqa66

— HG Policy (@hgpolicy) August 9, 2026

The provincial government declared a state of emergency Saturday to facilitate the response to the fires, which authorities attribute to high temperatures and severe drought conditions in the southern interior of British Columbia. Smoke has hampered aerial firefighting operations and caused flight cancellations at Kelowna airport.

On Monday, the Canadian federal government confirmed that there were 591 active wildfires across the country, although the most significant ones are concentrated in British Columbia.

So far this year, Canada has recorded 4,265 wildfires that have burned more than 3.6 million hectares of forest. Seven new fires had been reported in recent hours.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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