Canadian city of 130,000 declares emergency as wildfires near

Record-breaking wildfires in Canada, which have already scorched an area larger than Greece, are heading toward key population centers, forcing tens of thousands to evacuate.

Authorities declared a state of emergency in Kelowna, the largest city in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley, an idyllic tourist region known for its vineyards, orchards and ski hills. Meanwhile, the entire population of the Northwest Territories capital of Yellowknife, about 22,000 people, continued to flee with an evacuation deadline set for noon Friday.

Climate change has made heat and drought more extreme, leading to more intense wildfires globally from Hawaii to the Greek island of Rhodes. In Canada, the number of fires and the total area burned are both well above average for this time of year.

In British Columbia, an evacuation order was issued by the city of West Kelowna and the Regional District of Central Okanagan just after midnight, local time. Lake Okanagan lies between the downtown core and West Kelowna but the entire city of 130,000 people was on alert for possible evacuation.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire, which destroyed hundreds of homes but stopped short of reaching the city.

Meanwhile, a map of the Northwest Territories showed hundreds of wildfires including those burning to the north, west and east of Yellowknife, which sits on the north shore of Great Slave Lake, about 250 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Across the lake, an earlier evacuation in the town of Hay River had previously sent some evacuees to Yellowknife.

People lined the streets of the Northern city for hours, waiting to get on 22 evacuation flights scheduled for Friday while cars jammed the sole highway out of the capital.

The decision by Meta Platforms Inc. to end news availability on Facebook and Instagram in Canada has prevented some evacuees from sharing articles on their social media platforms. A Meta spokesperson said in an email that Facebook activated “Safety Check” on Thursday for the Yellowknife wildfires to allow users “to let their friends and family know they are safe” and can “access updates from reputable sources.”