Canada Declares Emergency In British Columbia As Wildfire Forces 20,000 To Flee

Wildfires raging in the western Canadian province of British Columbia gained momentum, growing significantly in both scale and intensity in a situation already declared a state of emergency on Saturday by British Columbia Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Kelly Greene.

By Sunday morning, the BC Wildfire Service reported 102 active blazes in the province (up from 70 on Saturday), nearly half of them out of control.

"Over the last 24 hours, extreme fire behavior was seen in southern BC due to the continuous hot and dry conditions," the service said, adding that response efforts were being hampered by "elevated fire behavior coupled with severely poor visibility."