Wildfire evacuation alerts expanded near Peachland, B.C.

Evacuation alerts have been expanded near Peachland as winds are expected to increase at the nearby Glen Lake wildfire, the Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre said Monday.

Kirsten Jones, the centre’s public information officer, says the fire saw a huge amount of growth over the weekend due to high winds. The blaze was last measured at 450 hectares as of Monday, and she says things could get worse later in the day.

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• Crews battling new, ‘vigorous’ wildfire near Peachland, officials say

• More evacuation alerts, upgraded to orders in the Cariboo region of B.C.’s interior

“It’s a much bigger fire than it was the day before,” she told CityNews. “So it grew very fast yesterday in a gusting kind of wind weather and today we’re expecting more wind, which is why we have expanded the evacuation alert to take in a lot more area.”

The centre had already evacuated eight recreational properties in the area as a precaution Sunday.

Jones says the wind is blowing away from the lake towards Peachland.

The fire is at the boundary between the Central Okanagan district and Okanagan-Similkameen, so residents in the area are advised to look for updates from both districts.