Rapid damage assessments underway following inferno outside Summerland, B.C.

The heavy blanket of smoke that covered much of British Columbia’s Okanagan region for days has thinned, revealing blue skies in Penticton, B.C., where many evacuees have gathered after fleeing an explosive wildfire last Friday. The Bald Range wildfire, which has forced more than 20,000 people out of their homes in Summerland, B.C., and surrounding areas, spanned about 184 square kilometres on Wednesday, up by about six square kilometres from the day before.