Honda Celebration of Light cancels annual news conference due to B.C.'s wildfires

Event organizers for the Honda Celebration of Light cancelled an annual news conference "out of respect" for B.C. communities facing wildfire threats.

The cancellation of Tuesday's event was announced Monday afternoon.

"Out of respect for the people of Fort Nelson who are facing an extreme wildfire situation that threatens their community, we have decided to cancel our traditional celebratory event to announce the Honda Celebration of Light participating countries," Catherine Runnels, BrandLIVE president, said in a statement.

"During this challenging time, we believe the public's focus should be on providing whatever level of support they can to assist those who have been forced from their homes."

Event officials said the participating countries will be released in a formal announcement instead.

"The community of Fort Nelson and Vancouver may be separated by more than 1,500 kilometres, but we are all British Columbians," Runnels said. "Our thoughts are with those who are being impacted and fire crews that are working tirelessly to protect the community."

In recent days, thousands of people living in and near Fort Nelson have been forced to leave their homes due to the Parker Lake wildfire. Other holdover fires burning in the northeastern part of the province have also led to evacuation alerts and orders and, on Monday evening, the entire Doig First Nation reserve was told to leave. 

Fireworks during fire season?

Last summer, in spite of a province-wide fire ban, the Honda Celebration of Light went ahead in Vancouver's English Bay.

Capt. Matthew Trudeau, Vancouver Fire Rescue Services public information officer, said at the time the difference between the event and the fire activities of the general public is like comparing apples with oranges. 

"There’s a huge differentiation between those two things," Trudeau told CTV News Vancouver last summer.

"We have trained pyro technicians who have been in the industry for decades, lighting fireworks in the middle of a body of water, supported by a fully complemented fire department and the rest of our partnership agencies."

Fire boats and fire trucks were deployed to the area on festival nights and Trudeau said he'd never heard of anything igniting in the festival's 31-year history.

"There are hundreds of thousands of people with eyes and ears covering this area," Trudeau explained.

In contrast, fires can burn for hours in B.C.'s wildland before getting reported, and those flames can be difficult to access depending on terrain, steepness and the impact of the weather. In fact, thousands of hectares in northern B.C. are burning from "holdover fires," which the BC Wildfire Service describes as fires that remain dormant or undetected for a "considerable period of time" after they start. 

According to event organizers, the Celebration of Light is the longest-running offshore fireworks competition in the world and attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators to English Bay.

This summer's fireworks festival is scheduled for July 20, 24 and 27.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Becca Clarkson