https://images.app.goo.gl/yyYcMAmTsiMy1Cpf8
The deadliest wildfire season in modern Canadian history has caused thousands of people to abandon their homes, prompting British Columbia to declare a state of emergency. After announcing a state of emergency in the surrounding West Kelowna and the city of Kelowna, which has around 150,000 inhabitants and where an approaching fire has burnt down homes and trees, officials in the province extended the order late on Friday.
At a press conference on Friday night, Premier David Eby of British Columbia declared, “We are facing the worst wildfire season in our province’s history.” The situation has changed and gotten much worse in just the last 24 hours. Please depart if you receive an order for an evacuation, he warned. “Right now, the situation is unpredictable, and there will undoubtedly be challenging days ahead.”
According to the provincial emergency management minister, Bowinn Ma, at least 15,000 individuals were given orders to leave their homes across the province, and another 20,000 were placed on evacuation alert, meaning they were advised to be prepared to leave if commanded to. In order to help firefighters, first responders, and evacuees, authorities advised citizens to refrain from unnecessary travel to the impacted regions. Photos of the Okanagan Lake area’s hillsides engulfed in flames were released as emergency services issued a warning that wind might “worsen wildfire conditions and possible new fire starts.” According to Canada’s official broadcaster, the flames destroyed Okanagan Lake Resort.
In a press conference earlier on Friday, West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund described the flames as “devastating.” We put out flames that would have taken a century to put out, he claimed. According to the British Columbia wildfire service, 380 wildfires are now raging across the province, with flames posing a threat to Kelowna and West Kelowna. Numerous flames are deemed to be “out of control.”
After inhabitants of Yellowknife, located farther north, were ordered to leave the capital city of Canada’s Northwest Territories, which is home to more than 20,000 people, a wildfire that was approaching the city prompted the British Columbian warnings. Nearly all of Yellowknife’s population, according to authorities, have already evacuated, and those who are still there are being asked to leave for safety. The severity of Canada’s wildfire season this year has been increased by soaring temperatures exacerbated by climate change and combined with the country’s ongoing drought conditions during a summer of record heat throughout the world. The size of the state of Alabama has been consumed by hundreds of wildfires that have scorched twice as much land as any other season in Canada. Officials in British Columbia have reported temperatures that are testing records and dry air masses, which are aggravating drought conditions and increasing the danger of wildfires.
The Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with evacuees in Edmonton, Alberta, where an expo centre is housing those who left the Northwest Territories, and said that Canadians have helped one another through what “has been a very difficult summer for people across this country.” He stated that despite wildfires spreading to nearly every province in the nation, horrific loss, and an increase in catastrophic weather occurrences, Canadians have always risen to the occasion.
