ABSOLUTE CHAOS: The city of Kelowna has had some devastating blows on Friday night. At least 30,000 people have now been evacuated, that is almost one third of Kelowna's population out of their homes. An additional 15,000 residents are on a one hour evacuation alert. The entire city has been turned upside down and routines are now long forgotten. Many people will not be able to go home. Dozens of businesses are donating whatever they can to the small city of evacuee's. Makeshift sleeping quarters are in churches, businesses, school gym's and even Skyreach Place.

South, East and the Mission areas of Kelowna are being described as a "war zone". Firefighters are confronting walls of flames 400 feet high, with winds gusting around 70 km/h. The fire was advancing over 100 meters per minute, trapping several firefighters at times and luckily all escaped. 203 homes have now been confirmed lost in the Kettle Valley, Lakeshore, Chute Lake and Crawford areas. 345 firefighters and over 50 trucks were on the scene fighting tirelessly to save as much property as they could.

Traffic in Kelowna is near gridlock in sections with people fleeing the city. Highway 33 has been completely closed due to the evacuations and approaching fires. Emergency sirens could be heard all over the city. Telephone lines are jammed and areas are without clean drinking water. City emergency services are being stretched thin with the evacuations and fire fighting. To make matters worse there was a major car accident on Harvey Avenue during heavy traffic out of the city. At least 5 vehicles were involved and fire crews had to be called in to deal with flames.

Friday had the worst smoke yet and continuous raining ash throughout the day (I had to purchase dust masks). By nightfall the smoke lifted to reveal the massive and destructive wall of fire advancing in and around the city of Kelowna. It is so hard to fathom that the situation has come this far. I have watched the fire from the first day it started and it's exponential growth has been too hard to digest. This is the single most devastating thing to ever happen to this city or any city of this size. Some of Kelowna's most beautiful areas are now reduced to ash.

If you think you have friends or loved ones in the evacuation area's you can call 1-888-350-6070 to check on their status. I would like to give my deepest sympathy to all of those directly effected by evacuations and loss of their homes. I have been fortunate not to have been involved in the fires destructive path.