British Columbia Declares Emergency Over 53-Square-Mile Wildfire, Forcing 20,000 Evacuations and Killing 1
Updated
Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Aug 10
British Columbia Declares Emergency Over 53-Square-Mile Wildfire, Forcing 20,000 Evacuations and Killing 1
3 articles · Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Aug 10
Summary
An 80-year-old woman died while fleeing Meadow Valley as the Bald Range fire drove British Columbia’s biggest evacuation event of the summer, with more than 20,000 people ordered from their homes.
The blaze has spread to 53 square miles after doubling since Friday, and officials said flames grew so intense they generated their own weather systems, including lightning.
Summerland and Peachland were among the hardest-hit communities, with homes confirmed lost, some residents trapped and rescued, and hundreds of care-facility residents moved to safer areas.
The emergency declaration gives the province special powers to restrict travel, protect supplies from price gouging and coordinate additional rescue resources as damage assessments continue.
The fire is part of a broader severe Canadian wildfire season that has sent smoke into major cities and across the U.S. border in recent weeks.
As night-vision helicopters rescue trapped residents, are extreme rank 5 wildfires making parts of Canada's wildland-urban interface completely uninhabitable?
What hidden economic and health tolls will the unstoppable Bald Range wildfire exact on North America long after the flames are extinguished?
With embers jumping a kilometer ahead, how can towns outrun wildfires that now move faster than traditional evacuation routes allow?