Blanketed by wildfire smoke, morning skies were an eerie orange in Prince George, B.C.

Hours after the sun had risen Friday morning, the street lights in Prince George, B.C., remained lit as thick smoke and ash smothered the city.

The sky over this part of central B.C. was still dark orange well past 9 a.m. PT.

CBC reporter Nicole Oud in Prince George described the darkness as the worst she's witnessed all summer and said the smoke and ash in the air are palpable the second anyone steps outside.

Smoke and ash blankets Prince George, B.C.

6 years ago

Duration 0:32

Evacuees line up outside an emergency reception centre as smoke from the Shovel Lake wildfire floats over the city.

The culprit is the province's biggest blaze, the Shovel Lake wildfire, which is burning west of Prince Georgebetween Burns Lake and Vanderhoof, sending smoke wafting in all directions.

More than 150 firefighters and thousands of residents are on standby after the B.C. Wildfire Service issued an "extreme fire behaviour warning" on Thursday afternoon.

Gusts of up to 40 km/h are in the forecast for Friday and officials said the nearby 79,000-hectare (790-square-kilometre) fire almost seven times the size of the City of Vancouver is in danger of being whipped up by strong winds.

With files from Nicole Oud,Rhianna Schmunkand Andrew Kurjata

Read more from CBCBritish Columbia