1,230 wildfires, 4,250 square kilometres of land burned in B.C. since April 1
British Columbia is “significantly ahead” of the 10-year average in terms of the number of fires and the area that has been scorched so far this year, says the director of fire centre operations at the BC Wildfire Service.
Rob Schweitzer said Tuesday the province has seen 1,230 blazes resulting in 4,250 square kilometres of land burned since April 1 and it's only halfway through the wildfire season. The 10-year average for the same period is about 642 fires and 1,050 square kilometres burned, he told a news conference.
A crew of 34 specialists from Australia is set to bolster the 208 out-of-province personnel working alongside more than 3,000 firefighters and others on B.C.'s fire lines, he said.
Teams from Alberta, Quebec, Mexico, and members of the Canadian Armed Forces are already deployed on some of the more than three dozen blazes that the wildfire service says are either highly visible or immediately threatening properties.
One of those is a 120-square kilometre fire west of Kamloops that flared overnight, forcing the closure of Highway 97C between Ashcroft and the Highland Valley copper mine. The road has since reopened, but the wildfire service warned that increased fire activity means the route could close again with little or no notice.
Schweitzer said there were several reports of people on the weekend who did not heed evacuation orders, which meant precious resources were diverted to help those trapped behind fire lines.
“Most people in B.C. have never experienced an active wildfire event, and the conditions that we're seeing this year, are some of the most extreme that have ever been experienced in this province,” he said.
“Those situations can be disorienting and confusing, and your ability to keep yourself, your family safe may be severely impacted.”
Evacuation orders were in effect for just over 3,700 properties across the province, while alerts covered about 18,000 more, meaning people had been told to be ready to leave their homes on short notice, the government said on Tuesday.
Schweitzer said officials were paying close attention to the forecast and instability in the atmosphere that creates lightning.
The forecast shows a “mixed bag” with temperatures reaching almost 40 C in the south Okanagan, but the blessing is that winds are not going to be extreme, he said.
“The wind is actually our biggest enemy in this case, even though we do not welcome the hot temperatures and low humidities, it's the wind that we're really concerned about,” he said.
“We will see those higher temperatures so burning will increase, but we're hoping not to any significant amount.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.