Published Aug 21, 2023
www.bbc.com
The travel restriction around Kelowna is designed to ensure enough accommodation for evacuees and emergency workers. It also applies to the towns of Kamloops, Oliver, Penticton and Vernon and Osoyoos.
Hundreds of miles north, a huge fire continues to edge towards the city of Yellowknife.
An official deadline to evacuate the city - the capital of Canada's Northwest Territories - lapsed on Friday. A local official said later that day that nearly all residents had left, either by car or plane.
About 19,000 of the city's 20,000 inhabitants had evacuated. Authorities said 39 patients were moved out of a hospital to alternative facilities on Friday evening, making them the last people to be evacuated from the city.
Environment and communities minister Shane Thompson said some people had chosen "to shelter in place", but urged locals to leave.
In British Columbia, evacuation orders grew from covering 15,000 homes on Friday to at least 30,000 by Saturday evening. Another 36,000 homes are under evacuation alert.
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