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Evacuation order issued for western Canadian town as wildfire crosses over from US

2023-07-31 01:57
By Jesse Winter OSOYOOS, British Columbia (Reuters) -An evacuation order for the Canadian town of Osoyoos and its surrounding district
Evacuation order issued for western Canadian town as wildfire crosses over from US

By Jesse Winter

OSOYOOS, British Columbia (Reuters) -An evacuation order for the Canadian town of Osoyoos and its surrounding district in the province of British Columbia had been issued late Saturday night due to an out-of-control wildfire that has crossed the border from the U.S. state of Washington.

The wildfire, called Eagle Bluff, is approximately 4 kilometres (2.49 miles) from Osoyoos and is currently estimated to be 885 hectares (2,200 acres) in size on the Canadian side of the border, according to the British Columbia Wildfire Service.

It was estimated to be around 2,000 hectares in size on the U.S. side by the BC Wildfire Service.

Osoyoos has an area population of about 6,700, according to an Osoyoos economic development website.

"There are Initial Attack crew personnel, several single resources, two helicopters, structure protection personnel and heavy equipment responding to the incident," BC Wildfire Service said on Sunday.

The evacuation order covers the area north of the Canada-United States border to the intersection of Highway 97 and Highway 3, as well as west and north along Highway 3.

(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal and Yana Gaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Chris Reese)