Canada wildfires: State of emergency declared in British Columbia as firefighters combat blazes

The premier of the Canadian province of British Columbia has declared a state of emergency, citing what he described as the worst wildfire season ever as thousands of individuals have been evacuated from cities to the east of Vancouver.

David Eby said on Friday night: “Over the past 24 hours, the situation has evolved rapidly and we are in for an extremely challenging situation in the days ahead.”

He continued: “We are facing the worst wildfire season in our province’s history. This unprecedented situation has come to a head this evening. In just the last 24 hours, the situation has evolved and deteriorated quite rapidly.”

Amidst blustery conditions in the hills and mountains above West Kelowna, firefighters are battling the uncontained McDougall Creek wildfire, which has spread over 10,500 hectares of land. This volatile situation has prompted the evacuation of thousands of residents.

West Kelowna, a municipality with a population of 36,000, is situated approximately 300km (180 miles) east of Vancouver. Evacuations were also being carried out north of nearby Kelowna, a city with a population of about 150,000 also on Okanagan Lake, the local media reported.

As events unfolded, authorities to the north, in the Northwest Territories region, said that upwards of 19,000 individuals have reportedly evacuated due to wildfires posing a threat to the city of Yellowknife.

Fire crews in the area are persistently engaged in creating fuel breaks, applying fire retardant, and conducting aerial water drops, all aimed at safeguarding the city of 20,000, news reports said.

Firefighters reported that the fire’s advancement west of Yellowknife was slowed down on Friday by cloud cover and cooler temperatures.

Roughly 4,000 people were evacuated via air transport, and there’s potential for additional flights on Saturday contingent upon factors such as weather conditions, aircraft availability, and crew readiness.

Shane Thompson, the province’s environment minister, said that around 1,000 essential personnel are staying behind, while strongly urging anyone else to vacate the area.

Yellowknife mayor Rebecca Alty said on Friday: “Unfortunately, the journey isn’t done yet. The fire continues to approach and the uncertainty of when you’ll be able to return will be difficult.”

Meanwhile, in a joint statement with emergencies minister Bowinn Ma, Mr Eby said: “There are numerous fires across the province threatening communities. Thousands of people are under evacuation orders, and tens of thousands more are on evacuation alert.”

The statement added: “We’re calling on all British Columbians to be alert, listen to local officials and follow evacuation orders. We will get through this together.”

“It was a devastating [Thursday] night, probably the most challenging of my career,” West Kelowna fire chief Jason Brolund said during a news conference on Friday. “We fought hard last night to protect our community. We fought 100 years’ worth of fires all in one night.”

Mr Brolund said some emergency responders were trapped because they had to rescue residents who chose not to leave their properties despite being under evacuation orders, CBC News reported. “That’s the fire chief’s worst nightmare.”

Canada is facing its most severe wildfire season to date, with over 1,000 active fires ablaze across the nation, including 236 in the Northwest Territories. In this region alone, wildfires have consumed over two million hectares of land, leading to evacuation orders for over half of the population residing there.