Wildfire smoke is presenting a high risk to health throughout the Okanagan and other parts of B.C..

The air quality index that factors in the effects of smoke has reached 9 on a scale of 10, and a similarly elevated level is expected Saturday.

The Valley has some of the province’s dirtiest air, along with the areas at the eastern end of the Fraser Valley and around Squamish, according to provincial monitoring stations.

Much of the smoke is coming from an out-of-control wildfire along the Coquihalla Highway between Merritt and Hope, which remained closed for a third day. The Mine Creek fire, burning on both sides of the freeway, covers almost 20 sq.-km.

At higher elevations, the fire is “highly vigorous, with torching or passive crown fire,” the BCWildfire Service said in a Friday morni

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