Fort Nelson

Residents of Fort Nelson, B.C., are urged to evacuate immediately due to a rapidly escalating wildfire, exacerbated by high winds and continuous drought conditions.

More properties have been ordered evacuated after high winds fanned a massive wildfire in northeastern British Columbia that is the second largest in the province's history.

Environment Canada says records were broken in 10 places Tuesday - from 29 C in Fort Nelson, just edging a record set in 1961 - to 34.6 C in Trail, and highs ranging from 27 to the low 30s in Sechelt, Gibsons, Clinton, Merritt, Pemberton, Princeton and the Malahat on Vancouver Island.

Landscape in far-northeastern corner of B.C., a broad swath of muskeg and boreal forest shaped by sporadic islands of permafrost, is warming