A massive new evacuation order and alert has been issued for the Shuwswap region by the Columbia Shuswap Regional District on Saturday afternoon.
Community members in the areas of Electoral Areas C and G must leave immediately, which is in the areas of Sorrento and Skimikin.
See the map below.
This new evacuation order joins the existing orders already in place, adding thousands more to thousands of residents already evacuated and putting even more on alert.
More than 8,752 people are on evacuation order from this wildfire, with another 1,671 on alert.
BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) officials said the wildfires that are burning next to the Shuswap Lake are some of the worst conditions the province has ever seen for wildfires.
BCWS’s Cliff Chapman said the two fires in the area, the Lower East Adams Lake and Bush Creek East wildfires, are being treated as one — a massive 41,041-hectare blaze now known as Bush Creek East.
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Chapman said the fire took a run of more than 20 km in 12 hours on Friday — something that is unheard of in B.C. wildfire activity.
“This fire made a significant run towards the northern end of the Shuswap as well as towards Highway 1, Sorrento and Chase,” he said.
“It did cross Highway 1, which we closed (Friday) evening.”
BC Wildfire Service said structures have been destroyed by the fire in the area but, at this point, numbers and specifics were not provided.
“For the people on evacuation order, please do not head to the Shuswap area,” Chapman said.
The Columbia Shuswap Regional District gave an update Saturday afternoon regarding the blaze as well. They confirmed some residents were trapped Friday evening, and had to be rescued by boat.
“We did utilize a local marine SAR group as well as volunteers. They did evacuate some residents that got trapped when the fire rolled over by boat,” John McLean, Shuwswap emergency program’s risk management officer, said.
MacLean said the fire is expected to grow Saturday afternoon with windy conditions, even after the rapid growth on Friday.
“(Friday) night the fire did come across the Squilax area over onto the south Shuswap. It’s burning in the Mt. Baldy and Squilax Mountain area,” MacLean said.
“(This) is directly to the west of Sorrento and it is burning up the mountain and is starting to get closer to that area.”
On Saturday, the Columbia Shuswap Regional District issued an order and alert.
For the most up-to-date information, please check the Columbia Shuswap Regional District’s website and social media pages.
On Friday evening, the CSRD expanded an existing evacuation order for the Celista area to include the Magna Bay area.
A map showing fires throughout the province, plus evacuation orders and alerts, is available online.