Military prepares to evacuate Canada's fire-threatened towns
Published: 04:07 PM,Jul 03,2021 | EDITED : 07:07 PM,Jul 03,2021
An air tanker drops retardant along a ridge during the Salt fire in Lakehead, California. - AFP
BLURB
At least 152 fires were active in the western province of British Columbia, 89 of them sparked in the last two days
OTTAWA: Canada's government warned on Friday of a 'long and challenging summer' ahead as it prepared military aircraft to help evacuate towns and fight more than 100 wildfires fuelled by a record-smashing heat wave.
At least 152 fires were active in the western province of British Columbia, 89 of them sparked in the last two days, according to officials. Most were caused by lightning strikes.
The fires were north of the city of Kamloops, 350 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.
While the immediate blame for the scorching heat in Canada has been placed on a high-pressure 'heat dome' trapping warm air in the region, climate change is causing record-setting temperatures to become more frequent.
Globally, the decade to 2019 was the hottest recorded, and the five hottest years on record have all occurred within the last five years.
'The dry conditions and the extreme heat in British Columbia are unprecedented,' Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said Friday. 'These wildfires show that we are in the earliest stages of what promises to be a long and challenging summer.'
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met on Friday afternoon with an incident response group that included several ministers. He said he had already spoken with British Columbia's premier, as well as local mayors and indigenous chiefs in communities under threat.
'We will be there to help,' he told a news conference.
The response group announced it would set up an operations center in Edmonton, where armed forces will be able to provide logistical support. Military aircraft were also deployed to help.
Roughly 1,000 people have already fled the wildfires in British Columbia, and authorities are searching for many who have gone missing.
Late Friday, the British Columbia medical examiner's office said there had been 719 deaths in the past week, 'three times more' than the average number of deaths recorded over this period under normal circumstances.
CALIFORNIA FIRES
Meanwhile, hundreds of firefighters on Friday scrambled to contain three wildfires in drought-hit northern California that have scorched nearly 40,000 acres, including a popular tourist lake preparing to welcome hordes of visitors for the July 4 holiday weekend.
Evacuation orders were in place along stretches of Shasta Lake -- a camping and boating hotspot160 kilometres south of the Oregon border -- as soaring temperatures and high winds spur blazes at a relatively early stage in the region's fire season.
Around 40 structures were destroyed, including at least half a dozen homes near the town of Lakehead, a photographer said.
'We were fully booked, but right now you can't get in even if you want to,' said Cecil Hengst, owner of the Lakehead Campground and RV Park, forced to temporarily close by evacuation orders.
'This (fire) got really close... it's a bad one,' said Hengst, 63, who has been in the area for 12 years.
'Everything's so dry with the drought. We have had very little rain, our lake levels are so low right now for this time of year. It's perfect conditions for fires right now.' - AFP
At least 152 fires were active in the western province of British Columbia, 89 of them sparked in the last two days
OTTAWA: Canada's government warned on Friday of a 'long and challenging summer' ahead as it prepared military aircraft to help evacuate towns and fight more than 100 wildfires fuelled by a record-smashing heat wave.
At least 152 fires were active in the western province of British Columbia, 89 of them sparked in the last two days, according to officials. Most were caused by lightning strikes.
The fires were north of the city of Kamloops, 350 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.
While the immediate blame for the scorching heat in Canada has been placed on a high-pressure 'heat dome' trapping warm air in the region, climate change is causing record-setting temperatures to become more frequent.
Globally, the decade to 2019 was the hottest recorded, and the five hottest years on record have all occurred within the last five years.
'The dry conditions and the extreme heat in British Columbia are unprecedented,' Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said Friday. 'These wildfires show that we are in the earliest stages of what promises to be a long and challenging summer.'
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met on Friday afternoon with an incident response group that included several ministers. He said he had already spoken with British Columbia's premier, as well as local mayors and indigenous chiefs in communities under threat.
'We will be there to help,' he told a news conference.
The response group announced it would set up an operations center in Edmonton, where armed forces will be able to provide logistical support. Military aircraft were also deployed to help.
Roughly 1,000 people have already fled the wildfires in British Columbia, and authorities are searching for many who have gone missing.
Late Friday, the British Columbia medical examiner's office said there had been 719 deaths in the past week, 'three times more' than the average number of deaths recorded over this period under normal circumstances.
CALIFORNIA FIRES
Meanwhile, hundreds of firefighters on Friday scrambled to contain three wildfires in drought-hit northern California that have scorched nearly 40,000 acres, including a popular tourist lake preparing to welcome hordes of visitors for the July 4 holiday weekend.
Evacuation orders were in place along stretches of Shasta Lake -- a camping and boating hotspot160 kilometres south of the Oregon border -- as soaring temperatures and high winds spur blazes at a relatively early stage in the region's fire season.
Around 40 structures were destroyed, including at least half a dozen homes near the town of Lakehead, a photographer said.
'We were fully booked, but right now you can't get in even if you want to,' said Cecil Hengst, owner of the Lakehead Campground and RV Park, forced to temporarily close by evacuation orders.
'This (fire) got really close... it's a bad one,' said Hengst, 63, who has been in the area for 12 years.
'Everything's so dry with the drought. We have had very little rain, our lake levels are so low right now for this time of year. It's perfect conditions for fires right now.' - AFP