British Columbia’s premier, David Eby, announced a province-wide state of emergency Friday night at a news conference.
He made the decision following a daunting 24-hour period of fast-spreading wildfires that initiate thousands of new evacuation orders across the province.

He said in a single hour, the number of evacuees province-wide tripled to 15,000. An evacuation alert looms over upwards of 23,000 other residents, meaning they must be prepared to flee on short notice.

The central Okanagan area is where is most badly affected, as flames ripped through West Kelowna suburbs and forced the evacuation of Kelowna’s University of B-C campus.