Canada has mobilized the Army to deal with the forest fires that are spreading at full speed in British Columbia, the prime minister said on Sunday Justin Trudeau. Meanwhile, the western province deals with the flames that have led to evacuation orders for more than 35,000 people.
British Columbia declared the state of emergency and imposed a non-essential travel ban to free up accommodation for evacuees and firefighters, and urged drone operators and others who capture images of the fires to stay away from rescuers.
In some British Columbia cities, the air quality index (AQI), which measures major pollutants, including particulates produced by fires, was above 350, a level “dangerous“, showed IQAir, a platform for information on air quality in real time.
At midnight (0400 GMT), the Salmon Arm was recording the worst air quality index in the countrywith an AQI of 470. Among other cities, Kelowna College and Sicamous had an AQI of 423.
some hope
West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund said he saw some hope after battling “epic” fires over the past four days. According to his testimony, conditions have improved, helping firefighters fight the flames that threatened the city of 150,000 inhabitants.
“We finally feel like we’re moving forward instead of going back, and that’s a great feeling,” Brolund told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
Trudeau said in a tweet that the federal government will offer the Canadian Army support “to assist with evacuations” and other logistical tasks in response to a request from the British Columbia government.
Wildfires are frequent in Canada, but the spread of flames and outages underscore the severity of its worst wildfire season yet, which some experts have blamed on climate change.
In Canada, government officials urged residents in evacuation order zones to leave immediately to save their lives and prevent firefighters from being killed trying to rescue them.
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The authorities have not given any estimate of the total number of Destroyed buildings. Videos and photos on social media showed destroyed structures and vehicles and huge flames consuming trees.
About 140,000 square kilometers (54,054 square miles) of land, about the size of New York state, have burned across the country, with a smoky haze stretching as far as the US east coast. Government officials project that the fire season could extend into the fall due to widespread drought-like conditions.