ALERT: Evacuation ordered as entire village burns to the ground

An evacuation of the Canadian village of Lytton has been ordered after a wildfire rapidly spread though homes and other buildings.

“It’s dire. The whole town is on fire,” said Lytton mayor Jan Polderman.

“It took, like, a whole 15 minutes from the first sign of smoke to, all of a sudden, there being fire everywhere.”

The fire was sparked by the heat wave that has brought Canada its hottest ever temperatures, hitting a high of 49.6C.

So far, 486 people have died within the last five days in British Columbia due to extreme heat.