Residents in Metro Vancouver are waking up to an orange, hazy sky partially obscuring the sun as smoke from wildfires in the British Columbia Interior spreads across the province.
Environment Canada has issued an air quality warning for the eastern Fraser Valley covering Chilliwack and Hope, with the Metro Vancouver regional district monitoring now showing the area under "high risk" and urging residents to limit strenuous outdoor activities.
The new warning comes after thousands were forced from their homes due to fires around the province's Okanagan Lake, with the Salvation Army in Vernon becoming a place for people to gather as they figure out next steps.
The fire is now measured at more than 26 square kilometres in size after first being discovered on Friday and spreading rapidly over the weekend in winds reaching 115 kilometres an hour at some locations.
Salvation Army spokesman Ron Cartmell says since it opened Friday to offer emergency support services, local businesses have stopped by with help ranging from pallets of bottled water to hamburgers and coffee.
He says the community is doing what it can to ease some of the pain and the trauma evacuees are experiencing, and he has spoken to people who are on their third evacuation from wildfires in the last seven years.
Much of B.C.'s Interior is dealing with a prolonged drought that has exacerbated the wildfire situation, with major fires also burning near Boston Bar in the Fraser Canyon, Kimberley in the East Kootenays and Clinton in the Thompson-Nicola region.
There are about 120 fires burning across B.C., with about 50 classified as out of control.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
