Canadians made overnight drive to safety as fire spread

WEST KELOWNA, Canada – After being ordered to evacuate their homes at 3.00am local time because of a fast-spreading Canadian wildfire, Larry and Mora Goodman formed a convoy with their neighbours, driving as a group towards safety.

“Many of our residents are elderly, and afraid to drive in the night,” Mora Goodman told AFP in West Kelowna, British Columbia, one of the communities hosting those displaced by the Bald Range wildfire.

The fire in the interior of the western Canadian province began on Aug 7 and spread with terrifying speed over the weekend.

More than 20,000 people have been forced from their homes and officials have warned that the situation could worsen due to drought-like conditions in the region more than 400km north-west of Vancouver.

An 80-year-old woman died while fleeing her home and the provincial government has declared a state of emergency.

The Goodmans live in Peachland, one of the communities under direct threat from the Bald Range Fire.

Mora Goodman said that after ensuring everyone was properly packed, Larry put a light on the hood of his car to improve visibility as the convoy set out towards West Kelowna, about 20km away.

“We all caravaned down the highway, in the middle of the night,” she said.

Larry Goodman said he considered himself among the “lucky ones”, with no indication yet that his community had been destroyed.

“We’re eating far more food than we ever would at home,” Mora added, citing the local restaurants and civil society groups around West Kelowna that have mobilised support.

‘Uncertain’

Canada is extremely vulnerable to intense, extensive wildfires and experts say emergency evacuations in the summer months are set to persist.

Canada is home to about a quarter of Earth’s boreal forest area and average annual temperatures in the country are increasing roughly twice as fast as the global average.

There are also growing communities scattered across the vast country in areas highly susceptible to fires.

Ottawa is trying to adapt, procuring more water bombers and backing proactive forest management strategies, but those tactics have limits.

More than 4 million ha have burned so far in 2026, an area roughly the size of Switzerland.

Tens of thousands of people have been forced from their homes and major population centres like Toronto endured some of the worst air quality in the world in July.

In West Kelowna, Salvation Army officer Rob Henson said a wide range of people had been impacted by the Bald Range blaze.

“There are migrant workers that we’re supporting here that have had to come off the farm where they would normally work, and now they’re here without any clothing or anything.”

“People are just uncertain,” he added. “They want to go back to where they were, and that’s tough.” AFP