Evacuations are underway around Summerland, B.C., after a new wildfire west of Okanagan Lake exploded in size. Social media videos appeared to show multiple houses and other structures on fire in Faulder, west of Summerland, where residents posted that chunks of ash were falling. Erick Thompson with the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen’s emergency operations centre said the fire was first detected at 5:30 p.m. Friday, but grew to 50 square kilometres in about three hours. He said the fire posed an immediate threat and those in the evacuation zone from Summerland north towards Peachland needed to get out in the face of one of the “quickest-moving, fastest-growing” fires the area had seen. Thompson said in a video briefing that the fire was showing aggressive rank-five behaviour, meaning that it had…
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