Thousands told to evacuate due to British Columbia, Canada wildfire
Thousands of Canadians have been ordered to leave their homes in Fort Nelson, British Columbia due to the threat of a wildfire.
The inferno ignited on Friday night and was characterized by authorities as displaying intense fire behavior.
In addition, wildfires have prompted evacuation alerts and mandates in the adjacent province of Alberta.
The Canadian government has cautioned that this year’s weather patterns would heighten the wildfire peril in the nation.
Dubbed the Parker Lake fire by the British Columbia Wildfire Service (BCWS), it spanned 8 square kilometers (3 square miles) as of Saturday morning, expanding swiftly overnight.
Approximately 3,000 residents in Fort Nelson, situated in northeast BC roughly 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) from Vancouver, were instructed to evacuate.
According to Rob Fraser, mayor of the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality, the fire ignited when strong winds toppled a tree onto a power line, igniting it.
“By the time our firefighters reached the scene, the wind had fueled the flames beyond the capacity of our equipment,” Mr. Fraser stated to CBC News.
BCWS noted that the fire’s progression is exacerbated by strong winds and arid conditions, complicating suppression efforts.
As of Saturday, the firefighting effort involves nine helicopters, alongside ground teams and a specialist in structure protection tasked with safeguarding buildings endangered by the wildfires.
In Alberta, residents in the Grande Prairie area are on evacuation alert, with some being asked to vacate due to a blaze burning 4 kilometers east of the hamlet of TeePee Creek in the northwest of the province.
Residents of Fort McMurray, a town of about 68,000 people, have also been told to be ready to leave as an out-of-control blaze burns some 25km southwest of the city.
In parts of Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, Environment Canada issued Saturday air quality alerts due to wildfire smoke.
Last year was a devastating year for Canadian wildfires, with 15 million hectares (37 million acres) of forest burned – the most destructive season in the country’s history.
Eight firefighters died and some 230,000 people were displaced from their homes.
An update by Environment Canada this week predicted challenging weather conditions that could lead to another difficult wildfire season ahead.
Higher temperatures in the spring and summer could “exacerbate the risk and intensity of both natural and human-caused wildfires”, officials said.
A warmer-than-normal winter that left little snow on the ground also compounded droughts in several regions.
Globally, last year was the hottest on record. It was driven by human-caused warming, but also boosted by a natural weather system called El Niño.
Fires happen naturally in many parts of the world, including in Canada.
But climate change is making the weather conditions needed for wildfires to spread more likely, according to the UN’s climate body.
Extreme and long-lasting heat draws more and more moisture out of the ground and vegetation.
