Halifax radio host stranded by Kelowna fire: 'It's devastating'

The massive wildfires that continue to burn in Kelowna, B.C. kept a popular morning radio show host off the air in Halifax Monday.

"We're all stuck here in Kelowna, but we're safe, and seeing what's happening around us, it's devastating," said Erin Hopkins, one half of the morning team on Move-100.1.

Hopkins had travelled to Kelowna to surprise her mother for her 60th birthday, along with more than a dozen family members.

“My Mom lives in Kelowna. She has a bed and breakfast, so we have 14 of us who all flew in for her 60th birthday. We came from Halifax, Calgary, Edmonton, Seattle, Texas — and everybody was trapped here," said Hopkins.

"Nobody could leave. All the flights were cancelled. The airports were closed. But we're safe, so, it's perspective, right?"

At last report, more than 50 buildings in Kelowna had been lost, and a province-wide state of emergency remains in effect.

Wildfires are also threatening homes around Yellowknife and Ottawa has vowed to explore ways to do more.

"It's just kind of a weird headspace to be in where you don't know how long it's going to be," said Halifax-born Nicola Langille, who evacuated to Alberta fromYellowknife last week.

"How far should you go? Should I go home to Nova Scotia? It's a question for me, and I just don't know right now," said Langille, who works as a criminal defence lawyer.

At this point, Langille doesn't believe her property has been affected, but she is concerned for others.

"There have always been some fires, but it's threatening the community at a level I don't think we've seen before. You hear the news of fires happening in different places and you just don't expect it to happen to you, of course," said Langille.

“That's naive, and it can."

Recent fires pictured in Kelowna in an undated handout photo (Erin Hopkins)Langille also isn't sure when she'll be able to return home.

"That's the big question right now. It sounds like they're worried about the weather in the coming days. I heard yesterday that the fire season doesn't really end until mid to late-September, so I don't know if it's going to be that long, but I think it's going to take a bit of time still," she said.

At the time of interview Sunday, Hopkins hoped to catch a red-eye flight to Halifax Monday evening.

"You can't see anything. It's unbelievable… We just went through this in the Maritimes," she said.

"The fires here — it happens so often, but it's not like this.”

Recent fires pictured in Kelowna in an undated handout photo (Erin Hopkins)