PENTICTON – Heartbroken Okanagan-area officials have told wildfire evacuees to prepare themselves for the level of destruction left by a deadly blaze in B.C.’s southern Interior that police say has triggered a criminal investigation.

The out-of-control Bald Range fire is on the outskirts of Summerland, whose mayor told the community’s 12,000 residents they would not be returning to their homes on the shores of Okanagan Lake any time soon.

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