More than 20,000 residents have been forced to evacuate British Columbia communities along Okanagan Lake overnight, some plucked to safety by helicopter as an explosive wildfire surged toward them, destroying homes in its path.
Evacuation orders cover the entire community of Summerland, population 12,000, while a further 8,000 were told to flee in and around Peachland, both on the western shore of the lake in the B.C. Interior.
Officials have not tallied destruction from the fire that erupted late Friday, but the flame front overwhelmed the smaller community of Faulder as the Bald Range wildfire closed the 15-kilometre distance to Summerland in just a few hours.
Social media videos showed multiple homes ablaze as residents fled, with fire on both sides of the road.
Roads south from Summerland toward Penticton were jammed with evacuees after the order for the entire community to flee came down at midnight, followed by expanded orders covering communities north toward Peachland.
The blaze was first reported at 5:30 p.m. Friday, but it exploded in size, burning 50 square kilometres in a few hours, raining ash on Summerland.
Emergency information officer Erick Thompson with the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen said it was one of the "quickest-moving, fastest-growing" wildfires the area had seen.
The escape from Summerland played out on the district's YouTube feed, where Thompson hosted a series of live videos, ending with an evacuation from his own home after he was forced to abandon the emergency operations centre and race to his family.
"I had to leave the EOC to come and get my family to leave this area. We're heading south," he said around 1:40 a.m. in a final video from his darkened vehicle. "There's a lot of traffic backup right now."
Smoke from the Bald Range wildfire west of Summerland, B.C., is shown in this Friday handout photo.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — B.C. Wildfire Service (Mandatory Credit)
He urged fellow residents to get out as quickly as possible.
"I don't need to tell anybody that it's troubling for everyone that this is happening to our community, but we have to be strong, (for) our loved ones, and especially for everyone who needs the help, needs the support. So, look in on your neighbours."
The BC Wildfire Service said helicopters were used to evacuate "residents and recreationalists" ahead of the surging flame front.
"Winds were carrying embers up to a kilometre ahead of the main body of the fire," the service said in an update.
It said that while airtankers dropped retardant overnight along the fire’s east flank to try to save structures and slow the blaze, "winds accelerated and fire behaviour became volatile and eventually compromised the safety and efficiency of airtanker objectives."
Summerland homeowner Kerry Gold and her husband, Mike Elsinga, said in an interview before they fled around 12:30 a.m. that they could see flames licking the skies beyond the mountains.
"It's scary. It's moving fast," Gold said from their newly restored heritage home.
Elsinga said the fire was heralded around 7 p.m. by a "massive plume" of smoke. Then Gold said there was "nothing but flames in the near distance."
The couple just moved to the community from Vancouver.
The Bald Range wildfire west of Summerland, B.C., is shown in this Friday handout photo.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — B.C. Wildfire Service (Mandatory Credit)
Gold's preparations — their bags packed, cat-carrier standing by and plans to help a disabled friend in town — helped ease their escape.
Elsinga added that you can't carry much, and after looking out for family, friends and pets, everything else is replaceable. "You want to stay here and protect your home, but I guess you also don't want to get caught in it," he said.
"This is crazy," Gold said. "I've never seen anything like it because I went from being in the city to suddenly being in the Okanagan and discovering what this means."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 8, 2026.
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