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Image source, Amernhel Pascua/via REUTERS

Residents are being evacuated from Kelowna, a city of more than 150,000 people, after a wildfire jumped Lake Okanagan and sparked spot fires nearby.

The wildfire remains very active and unpredictable, authorities say.

This fire in British Columbia is about 2,000km (1200 miles) south of the situation in Yellowknife.

It has been confirmed that there has been "some structural loss" in West Kelowna and almost 5,000 properties in the area had been told to evacuate.

There will be an update on the situation in Kelowna from authorities at 10am local time, which is in just over one hours' time.

Image source, Reuters

Some 20,000 people are currently making their way out of Yellowknife, fleeing a wildfire that is 16km (10 miles) away from city limits. Hundreds others have already made their way out earlier this week from towns in the South Slave region of the Northwest Territories.

Once the wildfire evacuation is complete, it could become the fourth largest in Canada's history, according to official public safety data, external.

The largest evacuation to date was in Fort McMurray, Alberta - a city that is now taking in some evacuees from the Northwest Territories - after its 90,000 residents were forced to flee from a wildfire in 2016.

The second largest is a series of wildfires that threatened dozens of communities in Southeastern British Columbia and Southwestern Alberta in July and August 2003, forcing 48,500 to flee.

In 1989, a wildfire dubbed "one of the worst in Canadian history" at the time forced 25,000 people to evacuate in northern Manitoba. The province experienced 1,229 wildfires that year.

More than one thousand active fires are burning across Canada.

Images captured from a satellite show the smoke and flames billowing across vast areas of Canada and the border with the US.

Nadine Yousif
Reporting from Toronto, Canada

It is just past 07:40 in the city of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. Residents are waking up to another day of hasty evacuations, as a wildfire threatens city limits 15km (9 miles away).

Some 20,000 people are looking to make their way out. Many have already driven long distances to towns and cities in northern Alberta, or have flown out on a commercial flight.

Others are being airlifted out by the military, in what has been the largest operation of its kind in the history of the Northwest Territories.

Friday is a critical day for Yellowknife, as officials set a deadline of noon local time to get everybody out. There is little rain in the forecast, and wind is projected to blow the fire in the direction of the city over the weekend.

Meanwhile, separate wildfires in British Columbia are forcing the evacuation of some 2,500 people, with that number expected to grow.

The city of Kelowna, home to 150,000 and a popular holiday destination for some, declared a state of emergency on Thursday.

This all comes as Canada faces its worst wildfire season on record. So far, an area larger than the size of Greece has burned across Canada. The country is battling 1,050 fires as of Friday, from Quebec to the Yukon.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Indigenous communities in Canada have been hit hard by the wildfires.

They often live in rural and forested areas where the fires are threatening important traditions such hunting, fishing and cultivating plants.

Because those areas are also often sparsely populated, firefighting services aren't as well-resourced as the larger towns and cities in Canada.

Earlier in the wildfire season, the towns of Oujé-Bougoumou and Chibougamau, part of Cree First Nation territory in Quebec province were badly affected by fires.

Towns in the Red River Cree Nation in Alberta were also damaged.

As mentioned in our previous post, Lytton First Nation in British Columbia is being evacuated again despite residents still trying to rebuild from a fire in 2021.

Speaking to the AP news agency, Amy Cardinal Christianson, an indigenous fire specialist with Parks Canada, has said the wildfires "are so dangerous and so fast moving" that evacuations pose a particular challenge in remote communities where there might be one road in, or no roads at all.

Image source, Reuters

As we’ve mentioned in our coverage, several fires are currently burning across western Canada that are threatening a number of communities.

Among them is Lytton First Nation in British Columbia, which was given an evacuation order on Thursday "due to immediate danger to life and safety" from a nearby, out-of-control wildfire. The community is located about 260km (162 miles) north-east of Vancouver.

The order brings a familiar sense of unease for the village, which went up in flames in minutes after a wildfire burned through it in 2021.

The village estimates that over 1,000 people were forced to evacuate from the area at the time, with the majority unable to return home soon after that.

As of August, Lytton was still in the early stages of rebuilding from that fire.

Image source, Reuters

While today we're talking about the fires in Canada, you may feel like you've heard this all before over the last few weeks.

• At least 111 people died and more than 1,000 are estimated still to be missing after wildfires tore through the Hawaiian island of Maui.
• Firefighters in parts of France, Greece and Switzerland tackled blazes within the last month during a heatwave across much of Europe.
• Areas of Tenerife and La Palma in the Canary Islands were also evacuated as fires rapidly spread.

Climate change is increasing the risk of wildfires globally as it drives up temperatures, making heatwaves longer and more intense.

Drier vegetation and hotter weather means that once a fire is ignited, it can spread more easily.

Authorities are issuing a warning over the air quality in the region of Yellowknife, where multiple towns have been evacuated from encroaching wildfires.

It says smoke is causing poor air quality and reduced visibility, and can be harmful to health even at low concentrations.

The warning comes with a recommendation for those in the region to wear a respirator mask, like an N95, when outdoors, and to keep windows and doors closed at home.

Image source, Reuters

The Northwest Territory Government has published some guidelines on Friday's evacuation efforts on social media.

It says evacuation flights should be a last resort for those who cannot drive out of town, and outbound roads remain open.

Many hoping to be flown out of Yellowknife were turned away on Thursday after places on evacuation flights filled. Registration for those after a spot on Friday's flights opened at 6am (12:00 GMT) at the local high school, with the first flight departing at 8am (14:00 GMT).

Individuals with reduced mobility, those who are immunocompromised or have a condition that puts them at higher risk of severe outcomes due to smoke inhalation are being moved up the queue.

We've reported that Yellowknife residents have been advised , externalto register at a local school for emergency evacuation flights. Following registration people are to be shuttled to the airport.

Canadian military are helping to process people before they are taken to board yellow school buses.

As people continue to evacuate Yellowknife before midday (it's currently early morning there), there's a line of vehicles waiting for fuel at the Big River Service Station about 300km (185miles) south of the city.

An employee there, Linda Croft, told AP News, external it was: “Phenomenal and you can’t see the end of it.”

Angela Canning is a resident, she's packed up her van with family keepsakes, important documents and her two dogs. She's had to leave her husband behind as he's an essential worker.

She said: "I’m really anxious and I’m scared. I’m emotional, I’m in shock. I don’t know what I’m coming home to or if I’m coming home. There are just so many unknowns here.”

Image source, Reuters

To put this situation into perspective, the area of Canada that has been burned by wildfires is "larger than Greece", according to Canada's Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.

He tells the BBC World Service's Newshour programme the "situation is dire" and Canada is carrying out "one of the largest evacuations we've seen in our history".

"But the evacuation has proceeded in an orderly fashion."

He says: "I'm the first one to admit that when it comes to being ready to face the impacts of climate change we’re not ready… Canada’s not ready and I don’t know of any country in the world that is ready."

There are more than 1,000 wildfires currently active across Canada in the country's worst fire seasons on record. Here's what we know:

• Authorities are battling fires across the country, from British Columbia in the west to Quebec in the east
• Residents of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territory have been ordered to evacuate as a fire 15km from the town approaches
• Nearby towns are also under evacuation orders, with more than 240 fires active in the Territory

• The city of Kelowna in British Columbia is under a state of emergency; thousands of residents there have also been given evacuation orders

• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has cut short a holiday to meet with emergency services
• Authorities say the next few days will be critical

Earlier this week when people were given a deadline to leave their homes in Yellowknife many started to evacuate by road.

As Yellowknife empties, hospital patients, long-term care residents and inmates are all being transferred out of the city to nearby provinces.

Adrian Dix, the health minister of the Canadian province of British Columbia, told reporters on Thursday that around 55 patients and long-term care residents will be sent to British Columbia, with more expected to arrive in the coming days.

Among the patients are 33 children, as well as pre- and post-surgical patients. They are all being airlifted out of Yellowknife by a military plane and will be taken to Vancouver, some 2,000km away.

Dix called it an "extraordinary trip" for these patients.

Meanwhile, inmates are also being evacuated out of Yellowknife. The province said 90 have been transferred to the neighbouring Yukon territory and Alberta.

It would be the second evacuation for some, who were already transferred from Fort Smith and Hay River - two towns that were forced to evacuate earlier this week due to wildfire threat.

Image source, .

Here's a map to show you where fires have burned across an area of the Northwest Territories of Canada over the last week.

Evacuation orders are in place for Hay River, neighbouring Enterprise and Fort Smith.

Authorities in Yellowknife, on the north side of the Great Slave Lake, have told people to leave their homes by noon local time (18:00 GMT) today.

Ollie Williams is the editor of Yellowknife-based Cabin Radio.

He evacuated the city and travelled about 390 miles (630km) to a village called Fort Simpson, where others are now heading to.

Ollie spoke tells BBC News: "We came out here a day before [the evacuation order] because the writing has been on the wall for days that the wildfire was going to pose a grave threat."

He says he decided to leave the city early after interviewing an expert who said previous wildfires in Canada may have been underestimated.