SUMMERLAND, B.C. - Evacuation orders and alerts have been issued in parts of British Columbia's Okanagan Valley after a cluster of wildfires broke out following a fierce lightning storm that swept across the southern Interior.
BC Wildfire Service spokesman Kevin Skrepnek said Thursday that a blaze burning four kilometres south of Peachland on the west side of Okanagan Lake was one of the most serious, but it was not the only active fire.
"We've got a cluster of fires that is of concern right now in the south Okanagan corridor from Kelowna south," he said in an interview.
The so-called Mount Eneas fire prompted evacuation orders in the regional districts of Central Okanagan and Okanagan-Similkameen, with residents, campers and visitors directed to reception centres in West Kelowna and Penticton.
The latest evacuation order issued late Thursday due to the Mount Eneas blaze covers properties in the District of Summerland while some 595 properties were placed on an evacuation alert affecting almost 1,500 residents.
Central Okanagan Emergency Operations also posted an evacuation alert early Friday for almost 500 residents in 198 properties near West Kelowna due to the Law Creek wildfire. The BC Wildfire Service estimated the fire to measure about eight hectares.
