Okanagan wildfire evacuees wait to learn if they have homes to return to after harrowing night

CBC News is providing ongoing coverage of the wildfire from Kelowna and Vancouver. You can tune in on CBC Radio One, 88.9 FM in Kelowna, or by using the CBC Listen app or streaming online.

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In the pre-dawn hours of Friday morning, Steven Francis stood outside the temporary emergency lodging in Kelowna, B.C. and watched in disbelief as wildfire flames aggressively encroached on the tight-knit community where he has lived for three decades and raised two grown daughters.

Francis, a resident of Rose Valley in West Kelowna, fled from his home along with his wife Alana, a Great Dane and three rescue cats Thursday night and sought safety at an emergency centre set up in the city on the other side of Lake Okanagan.

"Last night, it came right to our doorstep with all its rage and fury and power, and I broke down," said Francis, his voice breaking as he spoke to CBC's The Early Edition. "I'll be honest, I had a moment, and I may be having one right now."

After spending hours in line with other evacuees seeking food and shelter Thursday, Francis took another moment after midnight Friday to look across the lake at the raging flames and reflect on his current reality.

"It goes beyond the personal self … all of a sudden, you have these rush of memories not just for your home, but for the community itself, and it's just unbelievable," said Francis. 

"I'm 61 years old. I think I've got it together, and then Mother Nature comes along and goes no, not tonight."

More than 2,400 properties are under an evacuation order and more than 4,800 properties under an evacuation alert due to the encroaching McDougall Creek wildfire, which grew more than a hundredfold — from 64 hectares to 6,800 hectares (68 square kilometres) — in just 24 hours.

"We fought 100 years' worth of fires all in one night," said West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund.

"I joined my men and women on the ground at about 2 a.m., and we undertook one of the biggest firefights I've ever been part of in the West Kelowna Estates neighbourhood."

The neighbourhood is in the foothills of Rose Valley Regional Park.

Officials say a significant number of homes have been destroyed by a fast-burning, "unpredictable" wildfire in the West Kelowna area as crews brace for what the B.C. Wildfire Service has predicted will be the most challenging days of the province's fire season.

Jason Chan, his partner Ashleigh Green and their cat Charcoal, raced against time Thursday to evacuate from West Kelowna after being ordered out at about 9:30 p.m.

They packed what they could in their small vehicle and drove white-knuckled to safety.

"We could see flames everywhere that we are driving through, especially on the west side, so it was pretty scary," Chan told Daybreak South Friday. "Hopefully, everyone is OK, but there is no news right now."

Chan said he has had barely any sleep and is constantly checking social media for news if his apartment is still standing and if his friends are out of harm's way.

"As a person who has lived in Kelowna for around 14 years, it's the first time that I saw how devastating a fire like this is,  especially living in our backyard," he said.

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The Central Okanagan Emergency Operation Centre issued a local state of emergency Thursday because of the fire, which is threatening suburbs, schools and businesses in the city and the neighbouring Westbank First Nation.

The City of Kelowna has also declared a state of emergency as fire crews responded to spot fires coming across Okanagan Lake from the McDougall Creek blaze.

Early Friday morning, Kelowna residents in the Clifton area north of downtown were forced to flee.

Commercial photographer Shawn Talbot has lived in the area for 42 years and was on Clifton Road taking pictures of the fire in West Kelowna when disaster struck.

"I heard a cacophony of people screaming behind me, 'Fire, fire!' Just one hundred yards to the north of me were candling flames going up through the trees."

Talbot lives in the direction the flames were going, so he said he raced home, and the police were already on his neighbour's front doorstep knocking frantically to get them to flee.

Now he is on a friend's couch waiting to hear if he has a home to return to, but he is trying to stay hopeful and is in awe of the efforts he has seen from locals. Including boat rescues in the lake Thursday night as people running from racing flames protected themselves in the water.

"Kelowna is an exceptionally-resilient city, tight-knit, a lot of good people helping," said Talbot.