Over 35,000 Evacuated As British Columbia Wildfires Intensify

Authorities in Western Canada have implored thousands of people to heed evacuation orders and warned of difficult days ahead as “severe and fast-changing” forest fires in the province of British Columbia (BC) intensified further.

Premier Daniel Eby said that the number of people under an evacuation order in the province has doubled to 35,000 from a day earlier and that a further 30,000 were under an evacuation alert.

The fire is centered around Kelowna, a city some 300 kilometres (180 miles) East of Vancouver, with a population of about 150,000.

Forest fires are not uncommon in Canada, but the spread of blazes and disruption underscore the severity of its worst wildfire season yet.

About 140,000 square km (54,054 square miles) of land, roughly the size of New York State, have already burned, and Government Officials project the fire season could stretch into autumn due to widespread drought-like conditions in Canada.

B.C. had experienced strong winds and dry lightning in the past few days due to a cold mass of air interacting with hot air built-up in the sultry summer, that intensified existing forest fires and ignited new ones.

“We are still in some critically dry conditions, and are still expecting difficult days ahead,” said Jerrad Schroeder, Deputy Fire Centre Manager at the Kamloops Fire Centre.

ALJAZEERA