KOWNA – Forest fires in Canada’s western province of British Columbia increased on Saturday (19/8/2023) as the number of people under evacuation orders doubled from the previous day, while authorities put in guard against difficult days ahead.
British Columbia declared a state of emergency on Friday (18/8/2023) to access temporary authoritative authorities to deal with fire risks, as out-of-control fires ravage the province’s interior, blocking partially stretches of major highways between the Pacific coast and other areas. . western Canada and destroyed a lot of property.
“The situation is grim right now,” British Columbia Premier Daniel Eby told reporters on Saturday, saying some 35,000 people were under evacuation orders and another 30,000 were the subject of evacuation warnings.
Eby said the province urgently needs shelters for refugees and firefighters and ordered a ban on non-essential travel to provide more temporary accommodations. Officials also urged residents to avoid using drones in fire areas, saying it could hamper firefighting efforts.
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The fire was centered around Kelowna, a city about 300 kilometers east of Vancouver with a population of about 150,000.
Wildfires are not uncommon in Canada, but their spread and disruption underscore the severity of its worst fire season yet.
Some 140,000 square kilometers of land, roughly the size of New York state, have burned, and government officials predict the fire season could continue well into the fall due to widespread dry conditions in Canada.
British Columbia has experienced high winds and dry lightning in recent days as cold air masses interact with warm air that builds up during the sweltering summer. It intensifies existing forest fires and starts new ones.
“We are still in critical dry conditions and still have tough days ahead,” said Jerrad Schroeder, assistant fire center manager at Kamloops Fire Center. Reuters.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau convened a meeting of senior ministers and senior officials on Saturday to discuss the bushfires. The incident response group, which is meeting for the second time this week, has agreed to provide “additional resources” for British Columbia and the Northwest Territories (NWT).
A wildfire spiraling out of control in Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, prompted the evacuation of nearly all of its 20,000 residents this week. A patient has died while being transferred from Yellowknife, a Northwest Territories minister said Saturday.
Currently, the fire is not expected to reach the city limits by the end of the weekend, officials said, with rain and cooler temperatures helping to slow its progress.
On Friday, fires in southern British Columbia. increased more than a hundredfold in 24 hours and forced the evacuation of more than 2,400 properties.
The blaze destroyed several buildings in West Kelowna and authorities have warned the province is facing some of the worst days of this year’s fire season.
British Columbia currently accounts for more than a third of the 1,062 active fires in Canada.
Some 5,000 customers are also without power inside the province, the main utility said.
The fires have depleted local resources and attracted federal government assistance and support from 13 countries. At least four firefighters have died in the line of duty.
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